The Best-Laid Plans
by wheeloffire
Summary: A post-Vexed story. AU to some extent. Lauren does not have quite the predisposition towards martyrdom as she does in canon so be warned.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Bo could see that Dyson was restless. Hale had been unreachable all this Monday from mid-morning onwards and he'd had to cover for him at work. Something must be going on with the Ash to keep a member of his personal guard incommunicado like this. Dyson never liked being out of the loop. Fidgeting, he bumped against Bo's leg. She squeezed his arm in comfort before he could apologize. Almost reflexively her hand drifted towards her phone before she remembered exactly who the only other person she might call to ask about Hale's absence was. She flinched, the movement bringing her hand back to the table top.

A small group of Light fae came into the Dal, looking agitated, and he cocked an ear to eavesdrop.

"They work at the Light compound. Something's got them stirred up." he murmured. "That's probably what Hale's involved with. People there are being questioned."

An hour later, Hale trudged in, his shoulders drooping, face grim. He ignored them, making his way instead to the people from the compound. He must have said something to them in a very low voice, because they were all nodding quickly and Dyson was shaking his head at Kenzi's questioning look: he hadn't been able to catch what was said. One by one the people at that table started to leave, looking nervous. Hale stood back to let them pass. He was following the last of them to the door when Dyson intercepted him.

As Bo watched, Hale shook his head firmly to whatever Dyson was saying. The Siren's usual good humour was totally absent and his posture tight with tension.

At length Hale turned and left and Dyson came back, a line between his brows.

"He says he can't talk," he reported briefly, on a frustrated exhale.

"I'll call Lauren," Bo offered reluctantly. She could keep the conversation to the questions she had, surely. They wouldn't have to talk about anything else.

Dyson shook his head. "You don't have to do that, Bo. I'll find out what's going on sooner or later."

"It's OK. The worst that'll happen is that she can't or won't tell us anything. We won't be any worse off."

Dyson opened his mouth, presumably to protest, but Bo had already pressed the call button and had the phone to her ear.

She got a canned voice telling her the number was out of service and her stomach dropped.

...

Bo stared down at the Yale sweatshirt in her hands numbly. It was the day after her abortive call. She'd found out why Lauren's number was not in service and she didn't want to believe it.

On Monday morning, carbonized human remains had been found in a restricted room in the Light labs. Fragments of bone and teeth. Fragments which matched Lauren's genetic profile and dental records.

Hale had finally been cleared to talk to them about it this morning. Bo had felt the numbness begin as he spoke. She must have looked ill or faint because she vaguely remembered Dyson putting an arm round her.

The numbness had stayed through her surprisingly calm petition to Ash to be given Lauren's personal effects and her ashes. The Ash had surveyed her pale set face expressionlessly for a long time, then simply nodded at her and deputed Hale to assist her.

The numbness had stayed as she'd followed Hale through the compound to the labs. He'd led her not to Lauren's lab but down to a small windowless room in the basement. When he switched the light on, Bo blinked.

"What is that, Hale?" she'd asked hoarsely.

"It's a stasis pod," Hale said tersely. "There was a human female in it. She was in a coma. The Ash told me yesterday that Lauren had been trying to find a remedy for her condition."

"How ... how long for? And what's ... happened to her?" Bo was hit with a sense of vertigo.

"The Ash didn't say but the pod's instrument panel shows it's been continuously active for five years. It was only switched off after we found ... after investigations commenced. But the woman was gone. We're looking for her." He paused for moment. "Anyway, you've been given Lauren's personal effects. They include these," he indicated a small box on the table. Bo opened it. Books. Not scientific texts. Nothing about fae. Listlessly Bo sifted through a couple of them. Terry Pratchett, Mary Renault, David Brin. Bo wasn't a reader. She didn't recognise them.

Hale said quietly, "I think she read them aloud to the patient. ... The rest of her personal effects are in her apartment. I'll take you there now. Want me to carry the box?"

Bo clutched it to her. "No need, it isn't heavy."

And now she was here, in Lauren's apartment for the first and last time.

Hale had let her in and said, "The furniture, appliances, utensils and lab equipment belong to the Ash. The crime scene techs have come and gone so you're free to take everything else. I'll leave you to look through the place. I'm going to see to having packing cartons sent up."

And now here she was, cartons all around her, lingering over every article that told her poignantly of too many things she hadn't known about the doctor. Degree certificates, DVDs of movies and TV shows Lauren must have liked, a box containing a padded case of medals, books with Lauren's handwriting in the margins, clothes she remembered or imagined Lauren wearing, all had been tenderly stowed. The sweatshirt she was holding had been on the bed. It must have been one of the last things Lauren had worn. It still smelled like her.

Bo tucked it against her chest and zipped her jacket up over it. There was a rap on the front door and Bo went down to find Hale standing there looking sadly at the cartons.

After the last of them had been squeezed into Bo's car, she said, "Hale, the woman in the pod, what was her name?"

Hale took out an old fashioned honest-to-god paper notebook and flipped through it. "Nadia Andreou."

"What else can you tell me, Hale?"

He put the notebook away, took of his hat and rubbed his head. "We don't know a lot, Bo. One of the nurses found the ... heap of ashes next to the stasis pod on Monday morning because the door to Nadia's room was open, which wasn't normal for a restricted access room. That's when we were called in to investigate. We found that the lab security cameras were fed a loop sequence starting on Sunday afternoon. On Sundays, security has a skeleton staff and they're mainly around the Ash's offices, not the lab. Lauren's key card swiped into the lab at about 11 in the morning. There are signs of forced entry through one of the basement windows that stretches up to ground level but the guards on duty weren't anywhere near it. None of them saw or heard anything untoward all day. We found nothing unusual in Lauren's apartment. The door guard on duty there on Sunday saw her leave the building mid-morning wearing sweats and showing no sign that she was under duress. But we've found an incursion into the Ash's database, possibly but not necessarily from the mainframe."

"What's your theory?"

"It looks like intruders broke into the lab on Sunday afternoon through the basement window and ran into Lauren reading to Nadia or working on a cure for her. One of them must have been a fire fae like Serena. She was actually on duty herself at the Ash's offices so she's accounted for. But there are others and not all of them are Light. The intruders must either have gone to the mainframe or used one of the terminals of the senior administrators to get access to the database. We're checking those terminals now."

"What was the database for?"

"Financial information. The lab computers don't have access to it." He heaved a sigh. "We can't explain why Nadia's gone, though, so our theory could be completely wrong. Maybe Lauren assisted the intruders because they promised to get Nadia away and was silenced to stymie the investigation. Maybe she was completely innocent and the intruders wanted Nadia for some reason. We don't know enough yet to say."

Bo frowned. "Why isn't Dyson involved in the investigation?"

Hale shook his head. "Too much fae business to involve human law enforcement. Dyson can't take off from his job for however long this investigation will take. Neither can I. A team from the Ash's personal guard has been assigned and the investigation's classified. Even I won't have access to the file now."

Chapter 2

When Bo thought of the wasted weeks during which she had refused to see or speak to Lauren, she wanted to scream. A huge ball of guilt settled in her stomach when she thought of how she had never in any way repaid the Light doctor for the risks she had taken again and again to help an unaligned succubus acquire control over her feeding. Gratitude alone should have granted Lauren the chance to defend her actions, not to mention common decency and justice. Bo ought not to have ignored Lauren's attempts to explain herself. She had been too indulgent of herself and her natural stubbornness. Now, unable to make reparations, regret tasted like bile in her throat.

She put the boxes with Lauren's things carefully in her room. She started poring jealously over their contents again. When she got to the box of medals, the numbness stopped and the tears started. She cried alone in her room almost violently for a long time. Hours later, when Kenzi attempted to speak to her, she said she needed to be alone for a while and wouldn't talk. She fell asleep, exhausted, among the boxes, Lauren's sweatshirt crushed against her chest.

For several days the tears were never far away and Bo stayed home, emerging only at night to drive downtown to feed from strangers for a hour or so.. She received from the Ash's messenger a ceramic urn with the pitiful tiny pile of Lauren's ashes and installed it in a padded case under her bed. She never fed in her room again.

Even Dyson was not invited to her bedroom any more. When she fed from him, she went to his apartment.

He tried to be supportive, but the strength of her distress made him uneasy and her refusal to be comforted made him resentful. After all, Lauren had not been what Kenzi was, virtually family. In fact, Bo had not seen or talked to Lauren for weeks before that night at the Dal, too hurt and resentful after their single intimate encounter. Yet Bo was mourning more like a bereft spouse than just a friend. It could not possibly have escaped Dyson's notice that he was insufficient consolation for this loss.

...

Eventually Bo apologized handsomely to Kenzi for having been so difficult to live with and started working again. She was as brave, principled and persistent as before. If she lacked the _joie de vivre_ that characterized her previous self, no one commented. But Kenzi knew that Bo's pillowcases were still occasionally damp on laundry day, and never dared to mention Lauren's name until one day, when she tentatively asked Bo if she would go over Lauren's things with her and talk about what she'd discovered from them about the lost doctor. They spent a long, tearful, cathartic afternoon doing this and Bo seemed better after that.

Chapter 3

Not long afterwards Bo found her mother and discovered that Trick and Dyson had known who she was all along and kept it from her. It was to protect her, they said.

How did it constitute protection for Bo not to know the identity of someone they thought was dangerous when she might otherwise have met her forewarned and prepared? Bo felt utterly betrayed and disillusioned and her heart was filled with resentment and indignation towards them.

She took the night to think things through so she might not make the same mistake as she had with Lauren. In the end she decided that Dyson had obtained sexual gratification from her with such continuous and longterm duplicity that it put that one single instance with Lauren in the shade. She found it no longer mattered to her whether he had real feelings for her. The opportunity to develop those feelings had after all been obtained at least in part by the same duplicity.

She broke up with him the next day with one short sharp sentence. If that caused him pain ... well, the engineer hoist on his own petard: she could not bring herself to care. His apologies and attempt to explain that he had _wanted_ to tell her but had been forbidden by Trick only increased her bitterness, carrying as they did the implication of more secrets being kept from her: Trick had a hold over Dyson that neither were willing to explain.

Her mother disappeared after sending a suicide bomber to the Light elders. The resulting explosion put the Ash into a coma, necessitating the appointment of a new Ash.

Bo resumed a grudgingly civil interaction with Trick and Dyson but, reeling from her disappointment in them and no longer able to trust their judgement, she started taking more human cases to avoid working with Dyson. These also had the benefit of being safer for Kenzi. Their success with these cases, assisted as they were by Bo's powers of persuasion, brought them more work, which even took them out of town to different cities in Canada.

It was therefore with an unwelcoming attitude that Bo received a little girl who called herself the Nain Rouge and who foretold that Bo would be front and centre in the next great danger that would threaten the fae.

Trick had shadows in his eyes these days which only deepened when Bo told him of this visitation, and he showed Bo a map on which he had been marking the incidence of inexplicable violence among fae all over the colony recently. Eventually he gathered together Dyson, Hale, Bo, Kenzi and, surprisingly, the new Ash and confided his belief that the danger was the last surviving Garuda, a terrible creature which fed on rage and fear. The pattern of violence was how Garudas had signaled their presence in the days of constant war among the fae, before peace had destroyed them.

The Ash, an annoyingly suave man named Lachlan, confirmed this independently. He was the last of the Naga, who were specialized defenders against Garuda. He said that the Nain Rouge had appeared to him as well and confirmed that Bo would lead the fae against the Garuda.

She was very young and new to the fae world. She was a succubus, made for pleasure, not war. She had no stomach to be a leader, particularly in battle. She had also been suffering from general lassitude and depression for weeks now and was less inclined than ever before to involve herself in the political machinations necessary to recruit support for the fight, activities from which her unaligned status had hitherto preserved her.

No, Bo was definitely Not Pleased with the Nain Rouge's message.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 4

Against this backdrop Bo and Kenzi resolved their last human case, this time in Montreal, before Bo was reluctantly to start her campaign against the Garuda. They were having lunch preparatory to leaving for home when Bo gasped, her head snapped round and she craned her neck, evidently trying to catch a clearer look at someone walking past. Kenzi followed her gaze but saw no one she recognized. Before Kenzi could voice a question, Bo had thrown down money for their lunch and was haring out of the diner, telling Kenzi to follow.

Kenzi grabbed her things and hustled out, only to see Bo disappearing fast round the corner. When Kenzi caught up with her, Bo was standing still, looking from side from side. A moment later, she stiffened and stared into the distance, resembling nothing so much as a hunting dog on point. Without a word she took off again. Cursing, Kenzi trailed along as fast as her four-inch heels would allow. Finally Bo skidded to a stop, staring at the entrance to a building across the way with a sign that proclaimed it to be the offices of "Biotech Research".

Panting, Kenzi raced up. "Bo! What the hell?"

Bo pointed at the building and Kenzi followed her gaze. She saw nothing but a crowd of people entering an elevator, a few others just going in the entrance and a rent-a-cop security guard.

"What are we _looking_ at?" Kenzi puffed impatiently.

"Lauren," Bo said with quiet certainty. "Kenzi, change my flight. Lauren's not dead. She's here and I'm not leaving until I talk to her."

Kenzi eyed her doubtfully. "Bo…. I know you miss her, but …"

Bo whirled round. "I'm not crazy. I know what I saw, Kenz. I know her aura … it was definitely her. She's alive!"

When Bo would not be budged, Kenzi cancelled their flight home, booked a room, dumped their bags and returned grumpily at 5pm. At half past five, a steady stream of people started leaving the building and Bo came to full alert.

Time passed.

Kenzi strolled up and down checking out the eating places on the street. The lights in the building lobby went out and only a few windows on the upper floors stayed lit.

At 8pm, Kenzi demanded to know how long they were going to stake out the place. Bo didn't answer, her full attention unwavering on the building entrance. Kenzi threw up her hands and went to buy pizza.

At half past nine, a lone slender figure emerged and Bo quivered and did her hunting dog impression again.

"That's her," she breathed. "That's Lauren."

Kenzi peered. She saw a baseball cap and a muffler. "I can't tell, Bo."

Bo stood up. "It's her. Let's catch up to her now. It's quiet here. If we try to follow for long, she might spook and run."

Kenzi power-walked up behind the figure and Bo took the opposite side of the street. When Kenzi was within arm's reach of their quarry, Bo dashed across the street to cut them off and the figure froze.

Bo held up her empty hands and Kenzi said softly but clearly, as unthreateningly as possible, "Please don't run. We just wanna talk for a minute. No one else will know."

Slowly Bo approached, staring. "Lauren?" she said softly. Kenzi tilted her head to look.

There was soft sigh. "How did you find me?"

Kenzi was so surprised she just gaped. It was indeed Dr Lauren Lewis, blond hair tucked under the cap and other features hidden by her muffler, her unmistakeable voice resigned and tired.

Chapter 5

As far as Lauren knew, Bo hated her now and Kenzi's loyalty to the succubus was indiscriminate and complete.

So she was entirely unprepared when Bo fell shuddering into her arms with a soft cry of "Lauren, oh Lauren!". After a bewildered moment, she looked at Kenzi. The young goth looked as if this was all quite understandable and Lauren was more perplexed.

She had reflexively caught Bo in a solid, reassuring hold. When she was not let go, she reached up and tentatively petted the back of Bo's dark head. Bo sighed and rested her face in the crook of Lauren's neck, breathing deeply.

Lauren said again, "How did you find me?"

Kenzi turned up her palms. "We didn't. At least, we weren't looking for you. We're here on a case. It was pure luck Bo spotted you at lunchtime and then we followed you here."

"We should get off the street. But first let's be clear. I am not going back to the colony." She gave Kenzi a steely look.

Kenzi held up her hands. "Hey, fellow human here, remember? And slavery hater slobbering there."

"Not slobbering," Bo's muffled, slightly indignant voice said. She emerged from Lauren's neck to fix her with a steady eye. "We're not going to ask you to do anything you don't want to do. But Lauren, we thought you were dead! We've been thinking that for so long ... please don't just go without talking to us."

"Do you have a room here?" Lauren inquired.

Kenzi nodded.

"I'll come with you. We can talk there."

Bo clutched on to Lauren's hand until they got to the hotel room and sat with one accord on the bed.

"So ...how are things with you two?"

"We're ok for now." Bo was leaning against the doctor, drawn by her welcoming aura. "There's trouble coming, though. But first, we really missed you. I owe you so many apologies." She teared up.

Lauren rubbed her arm comfortingly and said quietly, "Let's come back to that later. What trouble is coming?"

"Big bad fire eagle dude, feeds off rage and fear," Kenzi told her.

Lauren inhaled audibly. "A Garuda? I thought they were extinct!"

"Trick and Lachlan say it's the last one. Oh, Lachlan's the new Ash."

Bo felt Lauren stiffen so she rubbed her back gently as she recounted what her mother had done. "Lachlan's a Naga. They traditionally hunt Garuda and he got visions about this one. That's why he put himself forward to be the Ash. Thing is, Naga have three heads and he's only got one left. Not enough venom to kill a Garuda."

"Oh, and get this," Kenzi put in eagerly, "Bo is the Champion of the fae against the Garuda! The Nain Rouge appeared to her and to Lachlan saying that."

Bo looked pained. "It sounds like rubbish. I'm not a champion. There are lots of better fighters. But Lachlan insists that I am. After this case I have to recruit allies and because I'm unaligned I can recruit from both sides."

"Wow." Lauren was thoughtful. "That will be complicated, I imagine."

"I'm dreading it," Bo confessed readily. "I don't know how to do any of that. I never wanted anything to do with being a leader. I hate politics."

"Enough doom and gloom. Tell us about you, doc." Kenzi less than adroitly changed the subject. She herself had every confidence in Bo; it couldn't be good to let her dwell on her own perceived inadequacies.

"Did you know Nadia? Do you know what's happened to her?" Bo followed up at once.

Lauren nodded. "Yes, we were in Africa with a humanitarian group. I managed to put together a remedy for an illness affecting some people there. It was a strange illness in a number of ways but I put that down to it being endemic to the region we were in. Well, I did until I saw that the tissue samples I took from the patients weren't human. It's how I found out about the fae. Nadia went into a coma and conventional medicine wasn't working. I couldn't find the cause of it. The Ash offered me the resources of the fae to help her if I signed my life over to work for him and I accepted."

She sighed. "It took years but about eight months ago I found a way to wake her. I didn't administer the medication right away because I didn't want us both to be trapped in lifelong slavery. I couldn't just wake her and take her on the run. There would have been so much to explain to her and she wouldn't have believed me. She wouldn't have believed in the necessity of running and hiding so she wouldn't have been effective at it. The fae would have found us within days. So I left Nadia in her pod and I made a plan to fake my death. I had to wait a long time for a white female human corpse in my age group to be sent to me in the right circumstances for me to abstract teeth and bones without risking awkward questions from medical examiners in the human world to whom it might be returned. It had to be one with intact dentition so I could take dental x-rays that would be a credible substitute for my own. And then I had to amend my medical records to create the illusion that the teeth and bones were mine and find a discreet opportunity to run them through the incinerator, all while keeping them hidden from everyone else. The amendments were hard because I wanted them not to be obvious to investigators. Then it was a matter of waiting for the right opportunity."

She looked sadly at Bo. "That's where my plans were when you arrived in town. I was still waiting when the Lou Ann case came up."

She hesitated and Kenzi said, "If you need a sidebar with Bo, I can go out to get drinks."

But Lauren just shook her head and went on. "Bo, you made it clear that you were going after the real killer. After you left the Ash, he told me that if you did that, the Dark would pursue you in force for retribution. Either Vex or the rest of the Dark would kill you. He didn't want you dead at the time but if the Light openly defended you against the Dark there would be war. He told me he knew I had been helping you without his consent."

She paused, then said quietly. "I thought at first he was saying that as a preamble to punishing me for it immediately."

She was silent for a moment, re-living the scene and the effort of keeping a poker face through her rising terror. But Bo started to look teary-eyed again so Lauren forged on. "But it was meant as a hint that he still might in future. He asked me to hold you back while he negotiated with the Morrigan to send Vex away. When I told him that I had already tried to reason with you and it hadn't worked, he pointed out that you were a succubus and I could surely distract you."

She looked at Bo and Kenzi seriously. "I didn't want to do it. At that time, he must have believed that you might kill me. Of course he didn't care about that, or about Nadia, but I did. If I died, so surely would she. No one else there was interested in her wellbeing. They'd just have killed her. His imposing a lethal risk on me made our bargain pointless to me."

"But there was an implicit threat that if I refused, I would be penalized for it and on top of that, punishment for my earlier help to you would not be withheld or Nadia would be harmed. If my punishment resulted in a permanent disability or death, I might never have been able to get Nadia out. I couldn't risk it. And it was just as important to me that you not be killed."

She shrugged with remembered helplessness. "It was a terrible thing to do to you and you didn't deserve it. I fully acknowledge that. But I didn't feel I had a choice anymore, not after you wouldn't listen when I tried to talk you out of it. What other options had I? I'm not strong enough to physically restrain you. If I tried drugging you, you might have caught me at it and stopped me so I couldn't take the chance. Taking you to bed might have been underhanded but it was my best chance to delay you and keep you safe while staying alive myself to carry out my plan. I truly trusted you to keep me alive, Bo, more than I trusted the Ash, so I took advantage of the goodness of your heart."

Bo looked down, unable to speak. Lauren's reasoning for Bo not to pursue Lou Ann's killer _had_ been sound. She'd stood down in the end in response to Dyson's reasoning on exactly the same lines. If she hadn't been so headstrong and just listened in the first place, she wouldn't have put Lauren in this invidious position. It was her own stupid obstinacy that had caused the whole mess. And for what, to mete out lethal vigilante justice, the very thing she had regretted having to do for the previous ten years? To be Vex's judge, jury and executioner, acting towards him no better than he had towards Lou Ann and her family? He at least had been enforcing a recognised fae rule, unpalatable though that rule might be; she had had only self-righteousness and a thirst for vengeance as poor justification and no excuse of uncontrollable hunger as she had had for those ten years on the run. She shook herself out her shame and back to the present and to Lauren's determined voice.

"You didn't deserve it, Bo. But I can't apologise for it because your life, my life and Nadia's life were all at stake. I regret more than you can know that you were hurt but my choices were limited in the circumstances and I'm not sorry for the one I made because all three of us are alive today and Nadia remains ignorant of the fae and is no longer in danger from them. There's nothing more I can say about this. Hate me or not, it's your decision."

She wouldn't look up but Bo could see the tension in her jaw and in the line of her shoulders and reached out to squeeze Lauren's hand gently. She said softly, "Lauren, I'd have done the same in your position. Please stop feeling bad about it. I was wrong not to listen in the first place and I was wrong not to let you explain afterwards."

Head still down, Lauren closed her eyes. This was such a _volte-face_ that she almost could not believe it: Lauren did not believe things just because she _wanted_ to believe them. But Bo's tone of utter sincerity sank in through her ears and into her heart. At last, at last, Lauren let herself be convinced and be relieved of this months-long burden on her conscience. She finally dared to look up at Bo and they smiled timidly at each other.

"Go on," Kenzi urged, caught up in the tale and not wanting an awkward moment to interrupt it indefinitely.

Lauren looked at her hands. "So I'd been waiting months for the opportunity to put my escape plan into motion. Actually it took so long because I needed two opportunities to coincide, a human corpse to autopsy that would be sent back to a human medical examiner and a house call at about the same time. That coincidence of events finally happened a few weeks later. I put Nadia in the body bag in substitution for the corpse and sent her to the medical examiner, knowing he would discover she was alive and not kill her. When I went on the house call, I detoured to his morgue in disguise and presented myself as her next-of-kin. He released her to me and I had her admitted into a hospital. In the afternoon I did the paperwork to send the actual corpse back in the proper way. The next day it was easy to stage the signs of breaking and entering in the lab and I input the signs of data theft from the mainframe to throw the investigation off the scent. I put the charred teeth and bones on the floor in the pod room and left the Light compound in a different disguise, got to Nadia and administered the medication that would wake her. When the doctors came rushing to her room in response to her monitoring equipment going crazy, I was waiting down the hall and watching to make sure she was OK. Then I left and came here."

She took a drink of water to soothe her parched throat.

"That was a hell of a plan," Kenzi said.

Lauren sighed. "The fae know Nadia's name. They'll be able to find her now she's up and about in the world. They may be able to trace her trail back to the medical examiner who will give them a description. It would be a description of my disguise, yes, but still of a lone woman of my height. They'll realize I might not really be dead. I expect sooner or later they'll find me."

She looked at the time. "It's late. Let's get some sleep and continue this tomorrow. I'll take the day off and you can both stay with me." Before Bo could get upset at the thought of parting for the night, she continued lightly, "I call dibs on the side nearest the bathroom."

Chapter 6

Waking early after a sound sleep, Bo felt refreshed and optimistic after a night pressed against Lauren and breathing her scent. Kenzi was a comforting weight against her back.

Lauren was alive and right here!, she thought gleefully. Before coming to bed, the doctor had thrown out her green contact lenses and Bo had got to see her familiar warm amber eyes smiling at her. Lauren's hand had been on her, petting her sweetly and soothing her into slumber. Bo had felt her aura, warm and still wanting her. Now Bo got to watch her sleep and she indulged herself until Lauren stirred and blinked awake, stretching luxuriously.

Bo felt her hunger ignite. Lauren took one look at her and whispered, "Go feed. There's plenty of time before check out. Kenzi and I will pack up."

Bo had begrudgingly gone. She fed hurriedly, anxious all the time that something unpredictable and awful would suddenly snatch the doctor away again before she got back.

Fortunately, her companions were both present and correct when Bo returned. Lauren had then indeed taken them home and was even now making breakfast: she had missed dinner the night before and must be starving. Bo felt awful that this hadn't even occurred to her. Lauren was obviously not one to whinge. Bo had to do better, be as considerate of Lauren's needs as Lauren had always been considerate of hers. Lauren had no reason to continue to make herself available and every reason not to. As a link to the fae, Bo and Kenzi were a risk to her safety and reminders of her five years in captivity. Bo had to give Lauren reasons not to disappear again without a word.

After breakfast, Lauren felt the need for air so she put on new contact lenses and her cap and muffler and drove them to the park for a walk. It was pretty deserted by mid-morning on a weekday.

Lauren asked the question uppermost in her mind. "Can't Lachlan's venom be synthesized or preserved? If so, the Light can make or collect enough for a lethal dosage."

Bo and Kenzi looked at each other and then blankly at Lauren, shrugging. She persisted. "Surely Lachlan must have thought of this and got someone at the labs to try."

Bo said hesitantly, "I'll ask as soon as I can. But Lauren, you might be the only one who can do it."

Lauren recoiled and Bo followed up hastily, "Wait. I'm not saying you should go back."

"What _are_ you saying then?" Lauren demanded, her skittishness already manifesting as she unconsciously quickened her pace. What had she been _thinking_? She'd only known Bo a couple of months before the Lou Ann case and they'd been absent from each other's life since...

"Lauren..."

 _Damn_ her own stupid sentimental weakness, damn her feelings ...

"LAUREN! I would never let you be enslaved again!"

Lauren said jaggedly through harsh breaths, "Bo, I know you mean to do your best but once the Light know I am alive, you won't be able to stop them. No matter how determined you are, you can't be with me everywhere all the time, and even if you were you can't fight them all. They will find something in my previous terms of servitude to enforce, or they will do something else, maybe threaten to burn down an apartment block if I don't comply." Lauren suspected that if she looked in a mirror right now she would see the whites of her eyes. Her voice was growing fast and shrill and she was almost hyperventilating. She was already turning her mind to another vanishing act.

Bo grabbed her and hugged her hard. "Lauren, I won't tell them. I won't, I promise. I promise, d'you hear? Not unless you say I may. I give you my blood oath." She cut her eyes at Kenzi urgently.

"What she said." Kenzi confirmed.

"What she said is her promise, not yours." Lauren snapped furiously. She forced herself not to struggle in Bo's arms, because she suspected that the succubus might actually pulse her to keep her still so as not to have to use force. She didn't want to be incapacitated in mind or body.

"Kenzi!" Bo shouted, feeling Lauren trembling violently against her. "For god's sake!"

"I promise, I swear, whatever it takes!" Kenzi shrieked in a panic.

They all remained still. Lauren focused on her breathing.

Bo said, her voice intense and passionate, "I would never force anything upon you that you don't want. If you want to be dead to the fae forever, then you got it. I don't care if the Garuda wipes them out."

"I'm sorry," Lauren said automatically, even though her fear was still greater than her trust. She breathed some more and rationality re-asserted itself. "Sorry," she said again, meaning it this time. "I don't want the Garuda wiping the fae out. It will just go after humans next, if it hasn't done so already. It has to be defeated. I have to think. You'll have to go home at some point so Kenzi, can you get me a burner phone?"

Kenzi nodded and Lauren shakily handed over money.

Chapter 7

After Kenzi had gone off to find a cab, Lauren turned to Bo. "Mind if we keep walking? It'll help me settle and think."

Bo put a steadying arm around her, glad to see she wasn't trembling anymore. "Sure. Come on."

They walked slowly together. When Lauren seemed to have regained her equanimity, Bo asked, "Better now?"

"Back to normal," Lauren affirmed, "thank you."

Bo said shyly, "I'm sorry to be so clingy but I've missed you so much."

Lauren patted her hand. "So I have been thoroughly convinced. Although it's been a surprise. When I left, you weren't talking to me."

Bo hung her head. "I was acting like a child. I should have heard you out. At least I should have thought of the fact you might not have had a choice. I hated that you were a slave. I didn't understand what it meant and I should have tried to understand."

Lauren gave her a little squeeze to reassure her that there were no hard feelings. "Let's draw a line under it, OK?"

Bo nodded eagerly. "God, yes! You don't know what it was like when Hale told us you were dead. I was miserable. I got your 'ashes' and I collected all your things. They're in my room."

"Oh, Bo!" Lauren stopped walking and took her hands. "You really are the sweetest person. You did all this even though you were angry with me?"

"No, the anger disappeared because of the shock, and when Hale told me about Nadia, it made me realize that you might not have had an option. And when I saw your medals I knew you couldn't be the sort of person who would just spy-bang someone unless there was a really good reason." She looked up soberly. "I was so angry at myself for not giving us a chance to talk it out …" She paused and gathered her courage. "Can I just ask you one thing more before we actually draw that line?"

"Sure, what is it?"

Bo said timorously, "I thought …. well, I thought we had a real connection. Did you feel that too?"

Lauren didn't hesitate. "Yes, that's why I hated the circumstances. " Her voice softened. "Just so you know, it was wonderful for me and that ... connection was a big part of it."

Bo blushed madly but she was beginning to feel like her old upbeat self again. "For me, too."

Lauren chuckled for a moment. She went quiet and finally gave a faint smile. "So, now, you and Dyson, huh? At least it seemed that way before I left."

Bo shook her head. "He slept with me, and not just once either, while concealing my mom's identity. There's no going back from that. In time I will probably forgive him but I can't forget it. But that's not the only reason... the fact is he must have seen our break up coming for weeks before that."

Lauren gave her an inquiring look.

Bo sighed. "I was a mess when we thought you died. I didn't treat him well, more as a convenience. He tried to help but it wasn't any use."

Lauren ventured, "It sounds like he really cares, if he was supportive, even if it didn't help. At least you knew you _had_ support available."

Bo gave her a sideways glance. "I thought you didn't get on with him."

Lauren shrugged. "I didn't really, but my observations aren't subjective, only my feelings are."

"The truth is that I shouldn't have started up with him at all. I didn't have the right feelings for him, otherwise I wouldn't have spiraled down the way I did."

Bo bit her lip, girded her loins and stepped off the cliff. "Lauren, I went with him because I thought I couldn't have you. That you didn't feel the connection I felt. When I thought you were dead, I grieved so much there was no room in my heart for him. Having him didn't make it better."

Lauren was silent in her surprise. This was unexpected. Sure, there had been all the weeping and clinginess, but Lauren had believed it was just regret that things had been left so unresolved between them before. She had forced herself to be levelheaded about Dyson and let Bo talk it out because that is what friends do. She hadn't realized Bo actually felt this way about her. But she couldn't deny how she herself really felt: she had involuntarily held Bo's hand more tightly.

Bo correctly took this as encouragement. "That one time with you meant more than any time with anyone else, including Dyson. I didn't even know it could be like that. It's not just about that though. I slept better last night with you there than I have since then. I didn't even realize that I hadn't properly slept for a long time until I woke up this morning. I've been feeling dull all this time but now I feel calm and awake and brave and ready to take on the world again just because you're here."

She stopped and turned to face Lauren. "If my immaturity hasn't completely repulsed you, will you consider trying this, us, properly? I don't care if I have to move here."

Lauren considered this, warm with pleasure and jittery with anticipation. She wanted this, oh _how_ she wanted this ... but she had internal and external resources now that she hadn't had in her previous dealings with Bo. Above all, she had do the right thing by Bo and she owed it to Bo and to herself to be straightforward now.

"Bo, I'm not the Lauren you knew in Toronto. I'm more like I was five years ago, just older. You might not like this version of me as much. I will say straight out that I do have strong feelings for you but you are, I think, also not exactly the same Bo I knew."

"And so?" Bo prompted.

Lauren smiled at her. "How about, before we make any definite decisions, we agree that we both want to aim to be together, that what we have and might potentially have is worth working for, fighting for? And we start by getting to know each other as we are now?"

Bo's face cleared as comprehension dawned. "It ... it sounds great actually, yeah!"

"And," Lauren said in a cautionary tone, "we absolutely have to address the fact you have to feed from others. There are difficulties ahead that wouldn't arise if you stick with fae. Are you absolutely certain you even want to be with just one person, and a human at that? There wouldn't be anything wrong with you if you didn't. You have lots of time for flings and experiments and you're entitled to have them and enjoy them without guilt. As a succubus, you don't even ever have to settle down with someone or even several someones. You're entitled to live that kind of life too."

"No," Bo said passionately. "I want to be with you. So much. Lauren, food is necessary for you to survive but it doesn't make you happy beyond the sensory pleasure of eating it, does it? Feeding my fae is the same. What makes me truly happy is being with you."

Lauren looked a little overwhelmed so Bo took her arm. "Take your time, Lauren. When you're ready, just tell what you need."

Lauren relaxed and the silence between them was comfortable now.

Walking with Lauren in the sunshine like this was wonderful, Bo thought. It felt ... couple-like, and with the fresh air, birdsong, light breeze and whispering leaves, it was a little idyll. Occasionally she wiggled a fingertip on Lauren's arm in a tiny affectionate caress, revelling in the fact that she could. Plus, Lauren's arm was so ...

"Hmmmm…." Lauren muttered, unknowingly interrupting Bo's appreciation of her musculature, "now I have even stronger reasons to help defeat the Garuda."

"Oh, right!" Bo slapped her free hand to her forehead. "You wanted to think and we've been talking most of this time."

"I can multi-task," Lauren said with dignity. "I actually _have_ thought up a plan. We just need to wait for Kenzi."

Chapter 8

Back at home, Lauren watched her two house guests digging eagerly into take away Chinese food.

She said, "Kenzi, can you set up untraceable emails for us?"

Kenzi nodded vigorously and gave her a thumb's up, mouth full.

"Great. Who knows you're in Montreal?"

"Dyson, Hale and Trick," Kenzi replied. "But the Ash can check our flight bookings. If he wanted to know where we were these few days, he could find out easily."

"OK, can you muddy the trail? Fly to Ottawa for a day on your way back to the colony. I'll give you money for it. Once you're home, go around town for a day first before you go and find out what Lachlan is looking into regarding his venom. If his lab people haven't succeeded in synthesizing or preserving it, tell him that you know an anonymous human who has the skills and is willing to try, but only with a guarantee of complete freedom and amnesty or blanket pardon for any wrongs done in the past, and Light protection. If you do it this way, they won't assume from your travel history that that human is here. Oh, ask for funding for housing and a car."

They nodded.

"If he agrees, get his blood oath to you, Bo, and a blood oath that he will give the human a blood oath to the same effect. Then go see the Morrigan and get the same thing, same process. I'll come out of hiding once their oaths are given to you. I'll get their oaths made to me before I start work. ...I'm going to assume you'll need me to be ready to travel to the colony in a couple of weeks' time. Can you ask Trick if he has a room at the Dal for me?"

Bo pouted. "I will but I'd much rather you stay with us."

"You'll be out of the house every day enlisting support and building your force. You have to feed. You won't have time to protect me. I'll be safe at the Dal."

Bo just stared at her beseechingl.

"I'll call every night when I'm done with work and if it's feasible I'll sleep over, but I'll still need a room." Lauren relented, and Bo smiled.

Kenzi rested her head on her hand and gazed at Lauren.

"So ... Nadia was a friend, huh? A girlfriend?"

Lauren frowned at the Russian. "How is that relevant? She's out of the picture. I haven't had even a conversation with her for five years."

"Just asking," Kenzi said innocently, but her watchful eyes betrayed her.

"I've had enough of having her held over me!" Lauren snapped.

"Kenzi, stop it. We are guests here." Bo said sternly. "Excuse us, Lauren."

She dragged Kenzi out the door and walked her up the road. "What are you doing? Can't you see how hard it's been for her?"

Kenzi said obstinately, "I was nice about it. Don't you want to know if she's still hung up on an ex? Or if she slept with you while girlfriend numero uno was still around?"

Bo grabbed her elbow firmly. "Kenzi, look at me. Do you see how serious I am? It ... Doesn't ... Matter to me. You've had me in your corner for a year in the fae world. Lauren was a human living under serious pressure alone for five years protecting someone who was helpless to protect herself. What would you have done if the Ash had me as a hostage and asked you do something so he wouldn't hurt me?"

This rocked Kenzi and Bo was thankful to see the faint hint of a sneer disappear completely from her face. She waited five seconds for Kenzi absorb the point thoroughly.

"Do you see? It doesn't matter whether Nadia was Lauren's sister or wife or colleague or her anything. She was an innocent who was helpless and had no voice in the matter. Whoever she was, Lauren took on the responsibility of protecting her and that was the point of leverage. In her place I would have spy-banged anyone. I can legitimately feel hurt but the one at fault was the Ash. We can't hold it against her."

Kenzi nodded slowly, her head down. Bo continued.

"She's still worried, and rightly so, about the fae finding her. She's entitled to feel whatever she feels. She didn't have to invite us here. She could have just walked away. She's fragile and on edge and ready to be spooked into running away again. I can't have that."

Kenzi gave up grudgingly. "Okay, I'll stop."

Bo shook her arm gently. "I mean it. I know you never liked her and I put up with it, agreed to disagree, because you're entitled to your own feelings. But she's never done you any wrong. She doesn't deserve this from you. And if she did me wrong, and I don't think anymore that she did because she was forced into spy-banging me because of my own stubbornness, I more than revenged myself by refusing to talk to her afterwards. In doing that I sabotaged us both and I've been paying for that mistake for months. I love your protectiveness of me, but it's wrongly applied here."

She leaned down to hold her best friend's eyes and slowed her speech. "Kenzi, every time I went for a shot, Lauren risked her life and Nadia's to give it to me. She saved your life twice. She helped us with our cases. Neither of us has taken even a single risk for her. We've never given her anything. We owe her everything and she owes us nothing. She's got no reason to help us with anything anymore. And I can't lose her again. I simply can't. If I lose her because of you, I don't know how long I will take to get over it. Do you understand? " She shook Kenzi's elbow again. "Do you, really?"

Kenzi didn't raise her head. "Yeah, Bo, I really do," she said, subdued.

Satisfied, Bo let go and leaned back. "What's with the dislike anyway?"

Kenzi groaned and shook her head.

Bo just looked at her.

After a few silent minutes, Kenzi caved.

"You really, really like her, Bo. You always have. Dyson's fae and a fierce, strong , hunky wolf and can feed you and give you kids. No human should have been a threat to him when it came to competing for you. He should have just dismissed her. But instead he was always getting into it with her. Somehow he knew she was a real threat to him and he couldn't understand why. I lived with you so I did understand why. You only saw her a couple of times a week for your shots and you spent almost every day and night with me and Dyson and Trick and Hale. And yet unless you were fighting for your life, you were always wondering if she was working too hard or eating on time or wrapped up warm enough or had seen this movie or would like what we were having for dinner. It's like from the beginning a part of your mind was always devoted to her."

She paused for breath. "So I was intimidated and a bit jealous, ok? I mean, she's smart and grown up and that was before; now we know she's brave and strong too. You got all nervous and girly when you were going to meet her. You were never like that with Dyson. With him you were doing what you knew to do from movies and TV. With her, it was all real. So I knew she was special to you in a way that Dyson wasn't. But he didn't make me feel the way she did so I pushed for you to be with him instead of her. And then I felt guilty for doing that because I knew you wanted her more, especially after you could feed from humans without killing them. So then I tried to justify it by buying into Dyson's concern that we didn't know enough about her, even though, as it turns out, we don't actually know much about Dyson and Trick either, and they have much longer pasts they don't talk about. Hell, I have a past I don't talk about."

She hung her head. "I got used to it. When you showed me her medals, I finally had to admit to myself that I was wrong about her and I felt bad. But I thought she was dead so I never made the adjustment to behave differently."

She looked up at Bo, huge eyes plaintive. "I'm sorry, Bo."

Bo had been gazing at her, eyes very wide as she listened to all this. She hugged Kenzi. "Hey, choosing Dyson was still _my_ decision. It was a bad one. Just because Lauren didn't seem to be available didn't mean I had to glom onto someone when I knew it didn't feel as good as it would have with her. I didn't think about it like that at the time but basically, I used Dyson to get back at her. I was wrong to do that to him and I can put that down to inexperience and immaturity. But it definitely wasn't your fault. Honestly if I'd thought she were available, what you felt wouldn't have made a difference, I would still have gone for her. Don't feel bad about that. OK? We're good. OK?"

Kenzi nodded gratefully.

"Kenzi, I need you to behave in speech and conduct both. You're not entitled to make her feel guilty about anything. You haven't the right to carry on as if you're better than she. You don't have to like her but you have to be fair. You have to be gracious enough to admit how indebted we are to her and you know you owe her at least civility. Do what's right, not what comes easily."

Kenzi considered this for a time, but not with any signs of doubt. Bo thought she was probably re-adjusting her perspective, not mustering objections, so she relaxed and kept quiet to let her process. She was right.

Kenzi saluted briskly, "Right. All set."

They smiled at each other. Kenzi offered, "I'll make amends and do right by her, Bo. Promise. I just have to find the right way."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 9

When they got back to the house with apology cartons of ice cream, they found Lauren poring over a note pad with indecipherable squiggles.

Kenzi marched up and gave Lauren a hug that clearly surprised the doctor. "Sorry, doc. I got a bit carried away looking out for Bobo."

Lauren patted her back. "It's OK. Don't worry about it." If the words sounded rote, like mechanical politeness, no one said anything.

Lauren said a little too brightly, "Now we have a plan to get me involved. Do you want to talk about your plans? Politically, that is. How will you recruit among the Dark, for example?"

Bo made a moue. "I've actually been trying not to think about it. I don't have the qualifications for schmoozing and campaigning. I wish I could take your mind with me. You would be all calm and diplomatic and restrained."

Lauren frowned at her. "Mine might be precisely the wrong approach. If you were chosen, Bo, then it's for your qualities, no one else's. Think about this. The Garuda feeds on negative emotions, or more probably the energy created by them, which it can apparently induce given the incidence of violence you've told me about."

Bo and Kenzi were listening attentively.

"If physical fighting were all important, the fae have experienced fighters and tacticians already. But they weren't chosen. Add the fact that negative emotions are the very ones prevalent in violent clashes and would feed the Garuda and be intensified by it and I am certain in my conclusion that winning will require something other than simple force. Succubi can be very effective in a physical fight, Bo, as you are, but the primary power of a succubus lies in being the very opposite of the Garuda. You feed on the energy generated by pleasure which you can induce."

She paused.

Bo's face had cleared and she was looking more positive as Lauren continued. "That power won't be affected if you concentrate on being determined instead of angry or vengeful. Someone like Dyson, whose powers in a melee are rooted in anger and aggression, will almost certainly be affected. Maybe his aggression will be redirected to the wrong targets. Maybe it will be intensified to affect his ability to function, say by giving him so much he'll have a heart attack."

"There's also the fact that no other succubus was chosen. Which means something individual to you is important, or your unique personality. Do you have a power that other succubi don't have?"

Bo frowned. "Not that I know of. I learned from my mother that I could breathe chi into a live person. And she had thralls but I won't do that. She didn't have time to teach me much else."

They settled down in the living room with coffee and Bo told them everything she could remember about her mother.

"When I first met her and didn't know who she was to me, I thought she was fascinating and fun and very clued into fae thinking and politics," she concluded. "But she also had a couldn't-care-less attitude about everything. She seduced and thralled people without a thought; she had no conscience and she was ruthless. When she killed that murderer, I remembered how wrong I thought it was. I was glad then that I hadn't killed Vex. It would have been hypocritical of me to be upset with her if I had."

"That's why you're special, Bo," Kenzi said loyally. "You're a good person."

Bo looked at Lauren with trepidation, but the doctor was nodding. "I think that's not only correct but important. If you were your mother, you would be interested in a personal agenda instead of fighting for the greater good. You would be contemplating using thralls to fight for you so they couldn't be made by the Garuda to work against you….." she stopped, lips parted, gazing into the middle distance.

Bo stared. "You think that would work? But what about afterwards? I don't want a bunch of thralls hanging around."

"That would be creepy," Kenzi confirmed, shuddering. "Convenient maybe, but still creepy."

"Yeah," Lauren said absently. "How did she make a thrall?"

"She didn't teach me," Bo admitted, "but later on a Dark loki, Ryan Lambert, got some of my blood into him and became, well, not quite not a thrall, but obsessed with me. I lost my memories for a while there because of weird fae stuff, but Kenzi and Trick broke the link between him and me and got my memories back."

"Wouldn't that work on fighters against the Garuda? The link can be broken so they can be freed afterwards."

"Yeah, I suppose," said Bo shortly.

Lauren didn't notice her unwillingness to pursue the subject. "How much of your blood did Ryan get in him? And how?"

"I don't know ….." Bo hesitated, "not much, maybe a few drops."

Lauren waited.

Bo said reluctantly, "I scratched his back while I was healing with him." She wouldn't meet Lauren's eyes.

Finally Lauren realised Bo felt awkward talking to her about having sex with someone else. This was a change. She hadn't evinced any awkwardness telling her about healing with Dyson before the Lou Ann case.

"It's a good thing all this happened," she said analytically. "First of course, because you stayed alive and healthy," she smiled warmly and Bo relaxed. "Secondly, now we know all this, run the idea by Trick. He must know more about the whole thing if he knew how to do the unbinding. You know, the fact that all of this has happened recently seems telling. I know it must have been terrible to go through it all at the time, but just think, you learned all of this just in time before hearing about the Garuda. That can't be a coincidence. Maybe all this is exactly why you have a chance as champion when others would not. And of course there's your unaligned status, which no one else has. Being able to recruit both Light and Dark must be a unique tactical advantage."

For the first time since hearing the prophecy, Bo stopped feeling dread and inadequacy. Lauren's tone brought back memories of earlier days when they were discussing her training and the doctor was tweaking the formula for her shots. Her matter-of-fact rationality was so calming. She explained her reasoning so that Bo understood and believed in it too. Bo didn't have to find something in herself she didn't think existed. Lauren was saying that she had everything she needed already, that it was her fae nature and personal history that singled her out for championhood, not some unknown skill she couldn't be confident she had.

This was so much better than the non-specific encouragement offered by Trick and Lachlan, who plainly had no real clue why she had been chosen and were simply offering moral support. Lauren didn't work off blind faith, which while nice to hear was not ultimately reassuring to the insecure. She had received no visions, she wasn't thousands of years old, she had no fae powers. She was hearing about everything after the fact, second hand, and figuring it out on the go. And yet she had achieved what they had not. She had rationalized the prophecy's choice and put Bo's doubts to rest so now Bo could go forth with conviction that would show when she was trying to persuade people to join the cause. Bo stared at her in appreciation.

"You really do make things better just by being here and being you," Bo breathed reverently, aloud.

Lauren flushed so hard that Kenzi sniggered.

"My amazingness thanks you," the doctor muttered dorkily. "And now, I'm going to start dinner. I'm going for a run after that. Either of you want to come along?"

Bo had trainers and elected to accompany Lauren and the doctor kindly put a game console in an overjoyed Kenzi's hands.

Ninety minutes later, they were back at the front door. Bo was holding onto the doorknob, gasping unashamedly. Lauren was stretching. She felt loose and lighthearted for the first time in years. She smiled at the grinning, puffing succubus and realized at last in her heart and not just in her head, that perhaps the key to happiness might not, after all, lie in leaving the fae world behind altogether.

Her guilt over the spy-bang had made her ensuing loneliness over the weeks following feel like a just penalty. Resentment over the fact that she'd had no better choice and frustration over having no chance to expiate her guilt had burdened her since then. Now though, she could acknowledge without inhibition that she had missed Bo and that she was happy they were reunited.

When she came down from her shower, Bo and Kenzi were fighting a fierce battle on some virtual quest that evidently involved a satisfying amount of violence. They looked and sounded utterly at home, sledging each other on her couch.

By unanimous vote, dinner was eaten in the living room. Lauren had made a game pie, which was something new to Bo and Kenzi. They had stared at the pie in hushed awe when she took it, golden and fragrant, from the oven. Kenzi took a picture and kowtowed in worship. They took their pie, mashed potatoes, salad and beers to the coffee table, and Lauren put on _Alien_ to universal approval. Afterwards, Bo and Kenzi did the tidying up while Lauren made coffee and dug out truffles and by the time she was ready for bed, they had got through most of the movie franchise.

The arrangement discussed was that Bo and Kenzi were sleeping in the guest room and on the couch respectively. As it turned out, they wanted to finish watching Sigourney Weaver's triumphs and huddled together on the couch with blankets, still in a contented digestive stupor. Lauren smiled and shook her head as she closed her bedroom door. For once, she didn't feel lonely.

Chapter 10

The girls left for home the next day. Kenzi hugged Lauren tight and whispered, "This fellow human's got your back all the way, doc. Whatever it takes."

Touched, Lauren really hugged her back.

Bo hadn't wanted to let go and in truth neither had Lauren, but time pressed and eventually Bo and Kenzi climbed into their cab and Lauren stood waving at Bo's retreating face pressed up against the rear window before she took herself to work. That morning, she'd woken with Bo camped out, snoring, across the foot of the bed, hand on her feet. Since their tête-a-tête in the park, the succubus had been so earnest about showing Lauren that her companionship was as important as her body that Lauren had been very moved and had an incipient smile constantly on the hover in the days following.

They spoke every night in the privacy of their rooms and sometimes Kenzi and Bo would put her on speaker. Surprisingly, Lauren found herself talking to Kenzi one-on-one as much as to Bo. The girl was often on her own in human parts of town and not surrounded by fae all the time so she could call at lunch time or the middle of the morning or afternoon to nag her into taking a coffee break.

Lauren had soon realized that Kenzi was trying to make up for her previous attitude. Her persistence as well as their frequent conversations led her to believe that the girl was sincere. Lauren began to accept her as a friend in her own right rather than a prickly appendage to Bo and learned to appreciate Kenzi's street smarts, hip humour, wiliness and connections. They found obvious common ground in being humans knowing about the fae, but Kenzi knew about longterm isolation too, from her disturbing family history growing up in an abusive home. Their mutual sympathy was mostly silent; just knowing the other appreciated the experience was usually enough.

In one of their evening conversations while Bo was off feeding, Kenzi remarked, "You know, Bo is going postal missing you. Did she tell you about Dyson's weirdness?"

"She just mentioned that he was behaving strangely," Lauren supplied. "She didn't go into detail and I didn't press. She knows she can talk to me if she wants to. I'm interested, I'm just not prying."

Kenzi grunted. "Well, thing is of course, Dyson doesn't know you're alive. He's hoping he and Bo will still work out in the end. I can see it in his eyes when he looks at her." She paused. "I don't really get it. He's, what, 1500 years old? You'd think he knows lots of other fae women everywhere who'd be glad to have him. I mean, if you're straight, what's not to like about him?"

She waited for and got a non-committal grunt from the doctor. "So I know I used to think he and Bo would be a great couple, but after they got together anyone could see that they weren't working out. And then there was the break up. So why keep hanging about now? For a baby succubus when there are all those other fae women out there?"

Lauren rolled her eyes unseen. "Kenzi, different people learn different things from life. He's learned about fighting and tactics and about fae politics and secrets. Maybe he hasn't been so invested in learning life lessons or maybe he's learned that with enough time, people change. Perhaps their being over _isn't_ such a done deal if he can stay around long enough and show Bo that he's a better choice than anyone new and shiny that she meets."

"Nah, come on. You've seen how Bo is with you. You can be doing nothing together and she's happy as long you're there. The two of them talk about fae stuff and cases and back each other up but that's pretty much all they have except for the faithful fawning that he spouts in the middle of it. I like the guy because he's loyal and strong and protective and I'm straight so I get to think he's a hunk and you can't disagree. But really, I don't see how he thinks there's anything there in a coupley sense anymore."

"They might have shared things you don't know about." Lauren pointed out. "He might be justified for all you know."

"Hunh ... Bo always came home or sent him away after they had sex. No pillow talk, is what I mean. So the only thing they shared in private away from me was sex, and there is no way a good lay, even a really really good one, should be enough on its own to convince someone his age that there's a meaningful relationship just hiding underneath."

Lauren said in confusion, "They must have had dates, meals together. They must sometimes have talked about the things couples do."

"Maybe," Kenzi said grudgingly. "But look, there's this period in the beginning when both people are all moony and can't be apart and can't keep their hands off each other and can't stop thinking about each other. Right?"

Lauren made an affirmative hum.

"Bo never did that. The hands part, yeah, they had sex. And in the beginning she only had it with him, which was what made it a relationship for her. She's inexperienced at this for her age, dead humans until a year or so ago, remember? So she did the things that TV and movies say couples are supposed to do. She dressed nicely when she went to meet him, that kind of thing. But she didn't have trouble being away from him. She would work and drink and watch movies and hang out with me and we would talk all the time and she never seemed to miss him being around. He was basically her go-to fae when she got hungry but it didn't seem like more than that."

"She might have thought about him but not spoken of it. What's your point, anyway? I can tell you have one, but I'm still not seeing it."

"I'm not sure," Kenzi sighed. "I feel really traitorous saying this because I still really like him a lot. But isn't it pathetic for someone his age to be so whipped just because of good sex that he can't see how the rest of the foundation for a relationship just isn't there now? They're great fighting buddies and yes, that's deep and meaningful in its own way, but it makes 'em bros, not a couple."

Lauren frowned. "Kenzi, are you thinking that maybe something else might be at work here?"

There was an electric silence. Kenzi finally said, "Shit. You think it's possible? Like some mojo is blinding him to reality?"

Lauren said, "Or he might not be under the influence of anything but acting under orders to stay close to Bo, as part of her personal life and not just her professional one. To keep tabs on her, maybe to influence her in personal matters. I don't know, Kenzi. You're there to observe these things and you're not usually wrong when you think there's more than meets the eye. I just don't have material to come up with a helpful theory. There's no concrete evidence or facts to go on. We could just be paranoid; he might just not be as mature emotionally as we might expect."

"Maybe I should talk to Trick."

"Not yet," Lauren cautioned. "Remember Bo's mother. Trick and Dyson have something between them and they haven't explained what it is yet, right? What if Dyson is hanging around because Trick told him to? You'd be better off sounding Hale out. As one of the Ash's personal guard, he'd know a lot more than he lets on and obviously he can keep his mouth shut. You might be surprised at what he can do to help."

"We have to tell Bo about this."

"Yes, or rather you do. I shouldn't be there for this conversation. I haven't been there to see any of it and I can't contribute anything useful. Just tell her she can call me to talk about it if she wants to."

Chapter 11

The next night, Bo and Kenzi rang and put Lauren on speaker. Lauren had had a brief reassuring chat with Bo an hour after hanging up from Kenzi's call and had been impressed by the succubus's levelheaded concern for Dyson as a friend. She was expecting to hear more.

"I talked to Hale," Kenzi began without preamble. "He doesn't know any more than we do but he agrees that there's something off. He's gonna do the bro talk thing and suss the wolfman out."

"Is there any chance, Bo, that he got some of your blood in him at any time? You've fought together and you've healed with him." Lauren had thought of this during the day.

"I don't know," Bo confessed. "The fighting and healing went on for some time. It's hard to remember. He's not acting like Ryan was, though."

"Would conducting an unbinding ritual be dangerous if he doesn't have any of your blood in him? If not, couldn't you just ask Trick to do it just in case?"

"Actually, I can do it. We don't need Trick. I have to cut his hand and say some words; I remember them from before," Kenzi said.

"We'll ask him over tomorrow and do it," Bo said determinedly. "I'll sway him into staying still for it if I have to."

"How's everything else going?" Lauren asked.

"Good. The Ash is still consulting with the last hold-outs among the elders about getting the anonymous human I know to work on his venom. Apparently the labs haven't been able make it or preserve it. He's not wasting time but he's had to talk a few of the elders off their high horse. Most were scared enough to agree right away. We'll be able to tell you definitively the day after tomorrow at the latest. He's seeing the last two or three tomorrow."

"Well, they've got to be aware that it will be a lot of work. It may already take longer than we have left. And you still have the Morrigan to deal with. If I go there with only the Light's agreement, the Dark will think it's unnecessary to deal because I'd already be working for the good of all fae."

"Well, actually," Bo said, "the Morrigan's agreed. Apparently she gets to be a lot more of a dictator than the Ash. She made me run a stupid errand for her today but it was over and done with without too much fuss. So as of now, you have the Dark's blood oath and protection and funding."

"Wow …. well, dictatorships _are_ the most efficient form of government ….. Have the politicians been giving you grief? Did you enrol any allies today?"

"Would you believe I have, of all people, Vex? The guy who pulled Lou Ann's strings?" Bo said sourly.

"Seriously? How's that working out?"

"Well, he's camping out at the Dal. Dyson was … unimpressed. Trick is saying nothing but I can almost hear his teeth grinding."

"Why? I thought the whole point of an unaligned champion was to recruit Light and Dark to work together."

Bo laughed. "Easier in theory than practice. Vex is like an S&M goth and he can be a complete pain and blatantly self-centred. He's not to be trusted. Still, it's weirdly entertaining having him around. He and Kenzi discuss make-up tips."

"Oi!" Kenzi said, "We've discussed heels too! Would you believe the human is the one getting on best with him? He's like a really annoying and very dangerous older brother I absolutely cannot rely on. It's a familiar dynamic."

Lauren heard Bo giving her a loud smooch in comfort and to lighten the mood. She smiled. She couldn't believe she was actually looking forward to going to Toronto. Two weeks ago this would have seemed insane.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 12

Three days later, Lauren got a month's leave from work, ostensibly to care for a sick relative. When she arrived at the airport check-in she wasn't expecting to see a cheerful succubus jigging on her feet in impatient excitement.

She got hugged to within an inch of her life, of course. Bo had decided to escort her all the way.

"I had an ulterior motive," Bo said chattily as they took off. She leaned closer and said confidentially, "Any break from politicking is welcome. Besides I wanted to gossip to you about the Glaive."

Lauren laughed. She enjoying hearing Bo moaning about how much work it was uniting people against a common enemy and about the foibles of each individual difficult fae. She was thankful that Bo was there to distract her. She was girding her loins to enter the colony again and dreading how Trick and Dyson would receive her. Hale was at the airport in Toronto to receive her as the Ash's representative and was even now being briefed about her by Kenzi. He had never been disdainful of her but he was part of the Ash's personal guard against whom her deception had directly been aimed. He would be the first gauntlet she would run.

"Here," Bo handed her a manila envelope. Lauren opened it and withdrew a sheet of heavy paper with various official embossments. It stated that she was appointed as of this date as paid consultant to both Light and Dark and that her freedom and amnesty or pardon, as appropriate, for any and all past wrongs she might have committed against the fae were all guaranteed. It was signed by both the Ash and the Morrigan and the per diem rate set out in the schedule made her eyes widen. Bo put her finger on one of the seals and tapped it and the sheet morphed into a contract that referred to LF Ltd and DF Ltd as her clients.

"Wow," Lauren breathed.

"I had some dark and light fae lawyers who owed me favours and I had three of them check it out confidentially. It's safe, Lauren."

Lauren gave her a grateful look. "It was so generous of you to use up those favours for this, Bo. Thank you. It's unfair that you should have pay for saving the fae."

"No, no," Bo said. She put her hand on Lauren's. "Listen, I called in those favours to make sure I would be happy because you could be here safely and not be fearful. I don't begrudge it at all. It's totally worth it to me."

They held hands for the rest of the flight.

Hale was full of unshadowed glee when he galloped up and took Lauren's hands in greeting. "Way to fool us all, doc!" He laughed as Kenzi hurried up for a hug.

Lauren couldn't help but grin back. "I thought I should be apologizing, Hale."

"Oh, you don't know this but I wasn't on the investigation into your case. Serena, Rodrigo and Venn were." He winked. Lauren had to laugh. Hale had a longstanding friendly rivalry with these three that involved a lot of practical jokes (well, they would have been lethal for humans).

"Will you have to protect me from them?" she asked, only half joking.

"Nah, they'll be put out that they got beaten by you but once they get over it, they'll respect you for it. They only ever knew you as the white coat who jabbed them with sharp needles before. Invite them out as a team and buy 'em a drink to say sorry and they'll be cool. Just ask me too so I can oil the wheels, babe." He winked again. "It's good to see you back alive and well."

"I don't know how many people will feel that way," Lauren admitted.

Bo was holding her hand and looked at her with concern. Lauren mustered up a half-smile for her and got a squeeze of the hand in reply.

Kenzi was uncharacteristically quiet because she had not expected to be quite so relieved to see the doctor again, not just for Bo's sake but for her own, and she was processing how much their new friendship meant to her.

Chapter 13

Lauren hadn't wanted to stay at the Dal with Vex there. Since she would need access to Trick's library and not to be interfered with while she was reading, Vex was now staying with Bo and Kenzi. In the car on the way to the Dal, Kenzi came to life and regaled them with stories about their dysfunctional bonding.

At the Dal, Hale took charge of Lauren's bags and she bravely made her way in, flanked by Bo and Kenzi. As expected, Dyson and Trick were waiting. Trick's eyes widened but he looked happy and relieved about dealing with a known quantity whose knowledge and skill he was familiar with. Dyson's eyes narrowed. Bo saw this and shot him a warning glance. She thought the unbinding had worked. There had been a definite change for the better after it and Dyson had been grateful that they'd done it.

"Lauren! It's so good to see you. I'm so glad you're well." Trick scurried forth. "Welcome back! Thank you for agreeing to help." He stopped and looked unsure. "I'm sorry, I know this sounds awful but I haven't had to deal closely with an unclaimed human before and I'm old, with old habits. You'll tell me if I do anything offensive, won't you? I want you to feel comfortable here."

Lauren shook his hand. "Thank you, Trick. You have never been anything but courteous. I don't see why we can't go on as we did before."

Dyson hung back and gave her a nod. "Lauren."

"Dyson." She nodded too and looked back at Trick. "We might not have much time so I'd like to get started right away. Is there a picture of a Garuda?"

They went off to look at books and Bo took Dyson aside.

Before he could speak, she held up her hand. "First of all, Dyson, Lauren's story is hers to tell but I know it and I am completely satisfied that she didn't do anything wrong. She had a valid view that she was in enemy hands all those years. Judged from that perspective, whatever she did was justified. So I don't want to hear you dissing her to me unless you have a clear and objective reason. If nothing else, the fact that she came back to save people like you after the way you treated her for years means she deserves a little respect from you."

Dyson shrugged. "I wasn't _going_ to diss her, Bo."

"You weren't very welcoming, were you?" Bo shot back.

Dyson rolled his eyes. "I'm a guy, Bo. We react differently to surprises. What did you want? A squeal of delight?" He snorted. "I'm glad she's alive and well. I never wished her harm even when we were snarkiest to each other. The fact that we don't get on doesn't mean I'm can't be objective. It's the same with her. She'll be irritated with me one moment and the next we're agreeing on the conclusion to draw from the evidence. You've seen that yourself. After all this time, even if she weren't under Light protection I would help her if she were in danger and she would do the same for me. We don't have to share a mug and gossip together to do that. Besides, I already sort of know her story, I think."

"How?" Bo was intrigued out of her protective hostility.

"I _am_ a detective, you know, and Nadia's scent was all over the stasis pod. I found her, alive and well, reunited with her family and getting on with her life. I watched her for a while and she didn't betray any knowledge of the fae. I thought that might have been motivation enough for Lauren to fake her death although I couldn't know how she might have done it. So I thought she might be alive but I was never certain because Nadia was never in contact with her. I figured Nadia had been a hostage of sorts. Look, whatever an old-school fae like me thinks of enslaving humans, it's obvious that _humans_ can't like it. It's not too hard to think that Lauren would have wanted a way out of it."

Bo looked at him. His eyes were clear and lacking the soft, pleading quality that had annoyed her lately. Dyson really was back to his proper self.

"What about the Ash's investigation team? If you found Nadia, they must have been able to as well."

Dyson shrugged. "I don't know because it was classified. But if they did, Nadia wouldn't have been able to tell them anything. All she knows is that she was in Africa and then she woke up in hospital in Canada."

Bo breathed in relief at the amnesty wrought for Lauren. Perhaps they'd been just in time.

Dyson echoed her thoughts. "You said you got amnesty and pardon for past wrongs for her, right? She'll be OK if that's in place."

Bo nodded. She hesitated and looked at him again.

Dyson gave a sardonic twist of his lips. "If you are wondering whether to tell me you're with her, you don't have to. It's written all over you."

Bo sighed. "We're not together yet. She's considering it adn we're getting to know each other better. A lot depends on how the battle with Garuda turns out and what she wants to do with her life afterwards. But Dyson, you know that I just don't feel that way about you, right? Whether she's with me or not, that would still be true. She just set the standard for how I _should_ feel if I want to be in a relationship."

"Bo, I'm 1,500 years old. I know. I've lived through this stuff over and over. After a couple of hundred years it got drummed even into my thick skull. You don't have anything to worry about with me. But if you want my advice, while Lauren is alive, you won't feed or heal from me unless you'll die if you don't."

Bo was about to snort that of course she knew that when she looked at him closely and realized he wasn't talking down to her. He was worried because she was a succubus and still new to relationships and he knew she didn't want to hurt Lauren.

She felt comfortable with him now and nudged him playfully. "So, got any wooing tips from your 1,500 years of experience?"

Dyson chuckled. "Grovelling is always advised."

They began to laugh together.

Chapter 14

Bo was on full alert and Kenzi had a hand on the handle of her sword but their precautionary tension was fortunately unjustified. They were granted access to the Ash without fuss.

Lauren was trying to ward off the tension that came with entering the Light compound, a place she associated with years of constant fear and worry.

They were shown to Lachlan's office and he rose with unexpected courtesy. Or maybe it was just for Bo.

"Dr Lewis," he bowed from the neck.

"Ash." Lauren replied demurely.

"Thank you for coming." If it was going against the grain for him to be polite to a human, Lachlan was hiding it astonishingly well. His manner was a lot less otherworldly than the previous Ash's.

They got through the blood oath formalities and he gestured to the chairs. Everyone sat.

"Ash, I have some questions that I believe only you have to answers to." Lauren kept her tone quiet. It helped a lot that he was so unlike the previous Ash in looks and demeanour. Still, she could see his face was used to being set in lines of smooth superiority. She understood why Bo griped about him being irritating.

Lachlan inclined his head magisterially and she had to suppress her annoyance. "My first question concerns the delivery of your venom. When the Garuda is in possession of another being, what happens to it if the venom is introduced to that being?"

Lachlan said, "That method works. With sufficient venom, the Garuda dies. So does the victim. "

"What is the normal way in which Naga engage Garuda? While it's in its own human form?"

Lachlan looked pleased that Lauren wasn't wasting time. "While it's in any corporeal form, its own or another's. But it's not usually in its human form. The danger to anyone facing a Garuda lies in the swiftness and cunning of the Garuda. It may appear to be inside one victim and then when you attack that victim, the Garuda may leave that victim and enter another and attack you while your attention is still on the first. The first victim is normally hyped up from the Garuda's possession and doesn't just lie down and stay passive. So you might be fighting multiple victims at once. The venom from three Naga heads is required to kill one Garuda, so we had to land three bites on victims that had the Garuda in them at the time of being bitten. The usual strategy was to go in force with enough soldiers to contain the potential victims so the Naga could concentrate on following the Garuda from victim to victim and biting when the time was right. Of course sometimes a bite would come too late and the Garuda would flee. Some fled as soon as a confrontation with a Naga was imminent so all that would be left would be a melee with its victims."

Lauren looked at him curiously. "Didn't the Garuda affect the Naga's supporting force?"

Lachlan looked even more pleased. "Yes, it did. And to top it off, the Garuda might have its own loyal force who wouldn't need to be possessed to engage us."

"They sound like very difficult prey," Lauren said thoughtfully.

Lachlan preened a little and she gave an inward smile.

"Why don't they just stay in fae form when they're not engaged in dealings with humans?"

Lachlan stared at her. "Dr Lewis, you impress me more and more, but why are you asking these questions? Shouldn't they be questions the champion should be asking?"

Lauren bristled. "I am asking because I am trying to work out a reliable method of delivery. The method of delivery may affect the synthesis or preservation of your venom. At the moment I do not know enough to discern what is relevant and what is not. Bo is here precisely because she needs to hear this too. But _I_ am asking the questions because I have a lot of them, including questions that aren't strategic but chemistry-based, and I have ordered them in my mind so they will be efficient and comprehensive. I do not think it is a proper use of your time to attempt to demoralize us, especially since Bo is taking the position leading the battle that, if not for the prophecy, should have been yours. May we return to my last question?"

She dared not look at Bo or Kenzi, who were probably biting the insides of their cheeks in order to preserve their determined and dignified silence.

Lachlan stiffened for a long moment. Then unexpectedly his lips twitched.

"Of course we may," he said, so soothingly that Lauren longed to smack him.

"Blades and projectiles will not harm a Garuda in possession of a victim. They only injure or kill the victim. I don't know of any other toxins that will work. Remember that the Garuda is essentially incorporeal when possessing a victim. There's no physical part of the Garuda for most weapons or toxins to latch on to. Naga venom works because of its specific fae quality. So your second question is a good one, yes. The Garuda in its human form is most vulnerable because all the usual weapons and toxins will work on it. It makes sense for the Garuda to avoid manifesting in that form so far as possible. One would think they would spend all their time in fae form. Why they don't, I don't know. I have postulated that the reason is simply that they are fae. Most of us find being in human form restful. We share a vast majority of our genetic makeup with you, after all. We are more powerful in fae form, yes, but we also expend correspondingly more energy. It may well be the same for the Garuda."

Lauren eyed him in some surprise. He was being forthcoming and straightforward with information. Usually fae had to be persuaded, cajoled and threatened before they would divulge the smallest fae fact, especially if it concerned their particular nature. He was intelligent and she thought his theories were sensible. Despite her initial inclinations, she liked him.

….

They preserved their poker faces all the way out of the Light compound until they got into Bo's car. Then Kenzi burst out. "Doc, you're a rockstar!"

Lauren looked at them. "I was just doing my job. I'm sorry there were so many technical questions at the end. That must have been tedious for you both."

"Never mind that," Bo grinned, though she looked a bit sheepish. She started the car,"Kenzi's right, you did rock."

Lauren sighed. "I've been fed up for so long with fae bullshit and had to stay silent. It was a relief to be able to talk back with impunity. Just don't expect that of me all the time. The fact still remains that getting things done swiftly requires cooperation and cooperation requires placidity with a lot of fae. I can't spend all my time in verbal one-upmanship and smoothing ruffled feathers."

Chapter 15

Later that night, Bo sprawled on Lauren's bed quietly and waited for her to emerge from cleaning her teeth. When the doctor came in and bent an enquiring eye on her she said, "You know, I didn't even think to ask those questions and Lachlan, damn him, was right that I should have."

"Bollocks," said Lauren, unbothered. "It was his job to volunteer that information to you, not yours to ask for it. Why else did the Nain Rouge appear to him? How were you supposed to know there were questions _to_ ask? I only thought of them because they were incidental to the work I have to do."

Pleased to see Bo looking less embarrassed now. Lauren said, "Bo, you have to stop thinking less of yourself just because your mind works differently from mine. We're not meant to all have the same strengths, that's why teams are always better than being solitary. We support and complement each other. Your mental strengths are with people and intuitive leaps. Both are as foreign to me as Polynesian. You are beginning to understand how typical fae think but still retain the knowledge of human thinking because you know human motivations and the human heart. That's a unique strength. And the warmth and passion you bring to everything you do I just wouldn't have the emotional energy to keep up. It's what people like to see and feel and it's why you can draw them together even without using fae powers. It's attractiveness that has nothing to do with sex. Look at how Kenzi and Hale are with you."

Bo's sense of humiliation had now entirely vanished. "Still, you defended me against Lachlan. That was really hot!" She grinned and Lauren rolled her eyes even as her cheeks pinked. "But seriously, it meant a lot. It was as strong a defence in verbal battle as Kenzi and Dyson's sword arms in physical battle." She let Lauren absorb her appreciation for a minute. "Dyson's cool by the way, just so you know. I think you're frenemies."

Lauren scoffed. "Other way round. We are inimical allies. We've both always been Light but are fractious socially. If it came to life or death, we would protect one another, although I suspect Dyson doesn't believe I would be capable of protecting anyone, let alone him."

"You'd be surprised. He said almost the same thing to me when you were with Trick. He thinks you both are objective regardless of your feelings. You know, he found Nadia but didn't tell anyone. It's why he thought you might be alive but he wasn't sure until today."

Lauren stared for a moment, then said, "Huh, explains his reaction to seeing me walk in."

"Yeah, he said it was a guy thing. Something about guys don't squeal with joy."

Lauren laughed. "Yes, I can see that. Considering our past interactions, I certainly didn't expect a hug and a beer. More like, oh the cockroach lives after all. Which was what I got. Honestly, anything else would hardly have been credible. But I think I owe him for keeping quiet about Nadia."

"And how many times have you helped him in the past? Don't keep score. If you do, I'll be in for it, considering how much you've helped me in the past."

Before Lauren could protest this, Bo went on with some fascination, "What is it with you two anyway? It can't just have been me, if it ever even really was. It started before I came here, right?"

Lauren nodded and pondered. At last she said, "Do you know, I think it's because we're both alphas. I don't look like one but I am, at least in my field, and Dyson can sense it. He couldn't reconcile what he was seeing with that sense so that got his hackles up and I just responded in like fashion reflexively because alphas don't back down."

"Definitely alpha." Bo leered at her and they both laughed.

In their one sexual encounter, Lauren had unthinkingly exercised a gentle confidence that Bo had responded to, equally without thought. In retrospect, Lauren had realized that succubi must have a natural tendency to be dominant in sex, an evolutionary necessity to ensure safe and successful feeding. Had that been uppermost in her mind at the time, she would have been more tentative and perhaps ceded to Bo the initiative. Instead Bo's succubus nature had lain only at the back of Lauren's mind as a danger. In the forefront of her mind was simply Bo, a woman she wanted to please. And then Bo's delight in responding had sealed the dynamic between them because Lauren would never have thought of disappointing any lover, and Bo was already special to her.

...

It had been a long day and Lauren had fallen into a hard, nearly desperate, sleep almost the moment she was horizontal. Bo fondly watched her, overjoyed to be trusted with this privacy.

Despite disclaiming intuitiveness earlier this evening, Lauren was an elegant and sensitive lover. Bo could easily call up the memories from months ago, so painful when fresh, so treasured now.

Her prodigious sexual experience had not prepared her for Lauren in the slightest. Her previous encounters had been marked by her control of her partners. Mostly, she had forced the pace so she could feed or heal. On the occasions when she wanted to experiment to discover what she liked most, the urgency might have been less but she still maintained full control from start to finish. Even with Dyson she had only ever allowed herself to be physically vulnerable for as long it took for serious injuries to be healed and not a second longer. (It occurred to her now that perhaps he had been a bit too pleased about making her plead for healing, as if it made up for not dominating her _during_ sex to be in control of _when_ they had sex, taking advantage of her in her vulnerability to assert that dominance. She put that thought aside for later cud-chewing ...)

Lauren had no way of overpowering her, was indeed the one who bore all the physical risk between them. Bo had been nervous only for the doctor's safety, not for her own.

So when Lauren had fixed her steady gaze on Bo and put her hand on the side of Bo's neck, thumb gentle on her chin to signal that Bo should _not_ surge forward into a fierce first kiss, Bo had been enchanted and intrigued to see where this would go. For the first time ever since Kyle, feeding was not on her mind while involved in a sexual act. Neither was control. Her concentration was wholly on quivering with the thrill of discovery all the while Lauren was hovering close, breath tickling her lips. At the first infinitesimal slow tiny lick to the corner of her mouth, Bo, almost keening in anticipation, lost all control, not of her hunger as she had feared, but of her body.

The bitter aftertaste of having had to beg Dyson to heal her that morning had faded as if it had never been. Lauren, she quickly learned by touch and response, would never make her beg. Not once did she comment on any signs of Bo's responsiveness and neediness even though it had all been patently obvious. Bo might have thought her insecure if it had not been evident that Lauren was as justifiably confident at sex as she was with medicine. No, it simply would never occur to Lauren to indulge her own ego at her partner's expense because she was just as naturally considerate and unselfish in bed as out of it. To a newly-realized succubus only just becoming hardened to other faes' preconceptions that her kind were slutty, needy, somehow weak of character for needing sex, and available for exploitation if they played their cards right, this was a balm that soothed the aches of the heart as much as it satisfied the urges of the body. With Lauren control was unnecessary because there was no such arrogant presumption to correct.

The constancy of Lauren's self-discipline and generosity had persuaded Bo to trust her so much that of her own accord, she had experimentally tried a first whispered, "Oh please, Lauren," and was astonished by the immediate exponential increase of her own already extensive arousal, this new and wonderful discovery made sweeter by Lauren's unstinting reassurance. As Lauren had whispered her own admiration for her, for how stunning Bo was in her passion, how warm and sweet, how very lovely, and backed this up with her lips and tongue, her hands and the warm press of her flesh, Bo's heart had thundered with indescribable joy.

Feeling not so much enjoyed as cherished and adored, a precious experience because she had not used her powers, Bo had pushed the envelope more and more in the absolute certainty that Lauren would never give her cause to regret it afterwards.

Bo refused to think of the aftermath now. Not in this context. She would remember it for the wisdom and maturity she had learned from the whole painful experience and for the things she had learned about herself and about Lauren. But it had no place in the essential truth of what they were together. Beautiful.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 16

Lauren worked daily in the Light labs, with Kenzi bringing in coffee, snacks and gossip and brooking no argument about her taking regular breaks. Bo went about her business finding support against the Garuda. Occasionally Kenzi would trot off to back Bo up in some hair-raising adventure to take down some fae who'd thrown his or her lot in with the Garuda and Lauren would worry about them both.

Bo and Kenzi took to eating dinner late at the Dal every evening so Lauren was glad to retire there and hear about their day, although sometimes these recountings would send her blood pressure soaring. Hale or Dyson would drive Kenzi home or to overnight with one of them if she were irritated with Vex.

Bo fed after Lauren went to sleep. Before that, Bo would flop across the foot of the doctor's bed or curl up beside her while they murmured to each other about little everyday things that had nothing to do with the fae. In this way, they shared little gobbets of their personal histories, one bite at a time. They squabbled familiarly about favourite foods, drinks, movies and music. They became closer and closer without once taking their physical relationship further than mild petting of an unexceptionably PG13 nature, more affectionate than sexual. When one or both of them were inadvertently aroused and a little tension arose, one of them would make a humorous remark or they would distract each other with a completely unsexy subject of conversation, and there would be giggling and a dissipation of that tension.

Bo had correctly gathered from their conversations that she could be guiltless about feeding normally, so long as she didn't embarrass Lauren or lower her in the eyes of those with whom she lived and worked.

Lauren had been quietly amazed and impressed at what she thought was Bo's restraint with her and she was flattered that their one time together had made so much of an impression on Bo that she was willing to go through all this, waiting for Lauren to be ready for more. Then she had a bit of an epiphany one night that, so far from exercising restraint, Bo was revelling in the closeness without the constant fear of trying to control her feeding impulse, something she had only ever had with Kenzi before, and that she was thoroughly happy experiencing this kind of intimacy in a context they both knew was not platonic.

Both were aware that if they were to part even now, the hurt on each side would be terrible. It cemented their commitment to the process and to each other.

Lauren was running on an average of five hours' sleep a night and was in any event truly too tired for sex, even if there had been time for it.

On the rare occasions she could indulge in thinking about the future, she knew she didn't want to give up the lifestyle she had established in Montreal, the mostly regular hours, time for exercise, lunches and walks or bike rides with her peers, the way she could rely on her self-respect not being battered all the time. She wanted to reunite with her family at some point, especially now her freedom was guaranteed and she didn't have to hide from the fae. She and Bo still had to discuss the logistics of Bo fitting into all this.

Her acquaintance with Bo's succubus nature was mainly professional, not personal, because Bo had never fed from her and probably never wished to associate her with food. Bo's human nature was definitely all kinds of lovable. Her succubus nature was to be respected for the power and healing abilities it brought. It was to be enjoyed for the pleasure it could provide. But loved? Lauren couldn't quite get there yet but she wanted to. It was something that would require a lot of time to discuss and work on and they didn't have that luxury now.

Chapter 17

In fact the time to discuss Bo's succubus nature came much more suddenly and much sooner than Lauren had expected. The doctor had finally concluded that there was no way to synthesize Naga venom and was about to reconfigure her teams to dedicate them wholly towards preserving it when Trick had called her and Bo to the Dal urgently. Once they were there, he announced with some excitement that an old Lich, a fae who fed on knowledge, was near. He looked at Lauren.

"I know that you, for one, have questions about the Naga venom. The Lich might know the answers. You can give your questions to Bo."

Lauren frowned. "Why? They are technical and I might have follow-up questions."

"The Lich eats human flesh, Lauren. We can't afford to lose you."

Lauren was exasperated. "You can afford to lose Bo even less. … I thought you said the Lich fed on knowledge."

"His mind is fed on knowledge. His body is fed on flesh." Trick looked at her anxiously. "He can revivify corpses and feed on their knowledge. He does this to very accomplished people because their knowledge is satisfying to him. _You_ are a very accomplished person, Lauren."

"Oh, thank you."

"You were not meant to take that as a compliment!" Trick sniped waspishly. "I am trying to persuade you not to go. Don't be disingenuous."

Lauren smiled. "Trick, I don't have a death wish. But if I don't go, the risk that Bo takes might not be worthwhile if we only get half the answers to show for it. And Bo is very accomplished too."

"You can't have forgotten that Bo has more defences against him than you!"

"I'm afraid I agree with Lauren, she has to go," Bo interjected, to Trick's horror. "I know, I know, we have no hope of making the most of Lachlan's venom without her. Apparently we have no hope of fighting the Garuda without me. One of us without the other is no good to anyone facing the Garuda and it seems it is no good for facing the Lich."

"Why do we have to go alone?" Lauren asked reasonably.

"Because," said Trick heavily, "he will only see Bo and her date for dinner. He's not going to admit a crowd that can overpower him. Don't you have a fae colleague who can go and ask the right questions and follow them up?"

"That's not feasible. We have one team who were working on synthesizing the venom and another team on preserving it. The only common factor is me and I have questions about both. I suppose there's a perfectly valid reason why Bo can't just bring a gun to shoot the Lich with if he starts being dangerous."

"Yes, there is," Trick sighed. "Even if the Lich granted you admittance with such a weapon, which he won't, the revivified corpses will be unaffected by any conventional weapons and I don't know if he has other protection. I doubt he'd be so bold as to invite Bo if he weren't confident of defending himself against her and whoever she might bring. Plus he'll be on home turf. I can feel stomach ulcers suppurating already," he complained.

"You don't have stomach ulcers," Lauren told him kindly. "You're fae. It might," she suggested outrageously, "just be a bilious attack. Fast for a day or have gruel. You'll feel better in no time."

….

In the end, she had gone of course. And when the Lich turned from host to hunter, Bo's mature succubus had made an unprecedented and terrifying appearance when Bo was near death and Lauren was on her back looking up at a blade about to descend on her throat.

Bo had felt a sudden current of foreign strength as she knelt panting what she thought would be her last breaths, despairing of saving Lauren. Something alien had taken over and when she was lucid again, Lauren was picking her up from the ground and everyone else but the two of them was near death.

Bo had revived the Lich a tiny bit and Lauren had asked her questions. With the implicit temptation of more chi from Bo hanging over him, the Lich's answers had been fulsome. In the end, Bo led Lauren away and left the Lich to die.

Chapter 18

Back at the labs, so far from micromanaging the work to be done putting the Lich's answers to use, Lauren had brought delegation a fine art, leaving instructions for her teams to pick up in the morning, and then taken Bo to her room at the Dal.

Bo's memory being limited, it was Lauren who had to tell her that her eyes had turned a luminous, cold, sapphire blue and she had actually levitated and sucked the chi out of everyone but Lauren, healing herself. She had announced in a voice totally unlike her normal one that she would prevail over all fae. Then she had collapsed and woken to Lauren.

The megalomania of her succubus frightened Bo so badly that she stayed over. In the silent watches of the night, her mind, braver with Lauren right there, still shied away from thoughts of schizophrenia and possession. It latched onto the two best things she could draw from this incident, she had healed from life-threatening injuries without sex, without even touching someone else. And her succubus had protected Lauren.

When Lauren woke after a ragged night, she could almost smell Bo's continuing anxiety and knew she wouldn't be going to the labs that day. Bo was precious to her and the champion besides. Her wellbeing ranked with the venom in priority and there were teams at work on the venom. Bo only had her and she would damn well continue to have Lauren as long she needed.

Over coffee in bed, Bo confided in Lauren the thoughts that had revolved in her head in the night.

Lauren said, "Bo, the odds against another supernatural being valuing me the way you do are so high they're hardly worth considering. I think we can forget about possession."

Bo registered her analytical tone and insensibly her anxiety began to ebb. She just wanted Lauren to keep speaking like that, and bless her determinedly logical brain, she did.

"So we are left with this succubus personality hiding within you. You said your last conscious thought was despair about our situation. You've been close to death yourself more times than I like to remember and it's never surfaced. So either something has changed between your last near-death experience and last night or imminent jeopardy to _my_ life was the trigger for its emergence last night. When it manifested, it took over your consciousness and your body. You said you felt a foreign strength holding you up so it's not a purely psychic manifestation. Besides it also controlled your feeding which requires physical resources."

She looked at Bo, who though still worried, no longer appeared desperately afraid. "Bo, would you like to try distance feeding?"

"What if that triggers the other personality?" Bo asked. "We only know one trigger. There might be others."

"Okay, then we have to talk to Trick. I've read everything I can lay my hands on about succubi and none of that material ever mentioned anything remotely like this. It may not come directly from your mother but from further up her bloodline. And of course there is a high probability that it comes from your unknown father's bloodline. If Trick knew your mother he might know her ancestry. While he says he doesn't know who your father is, this personality may give him a clue. If I'd had the presence of mind, I should have asked that blasted Lich. I could kick myself for not having done so."

"He might not have known so you'd be bruised for nothing," Bo said. She still wasn't up for smiling but she wiggled a fingertip across the doctor's forearm.

"I suppose," Lauren agreed doubtfully. "Oh well, spilt milk. You ready to see Trick while the Dal is quiet?"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 19

Bo decided to speak to Trick alone so that he should have no excuse for not being candid, but she asked that Lauren be close by.

So the doctor stayed in her room, getting status reports from her teams at the labs and brainstorming with them over the phone.

Bo clattered into the room with a lunch tray, almost bouncing.

Lauren hung up and looked askance at her improved spirits.

"Trick is my grandfather! I have real family! Right here! And it isn't even some complete bastard, it's Trick!" Bo enthused. It was infectious.

"How can anyone be an incomplete bastard?" Lauren teased. "Come on, tell me more."

At the end of Bo's gabbled recounting of the highlight of her morning's conversation with the barkeep, now known also as the Blood King, Lauren said deadpan, "Somehow Blood Princess doesn't have the same awful ring to it that Blood King does. It's in the rhythm. You just can't take it seriously. Like Dread Pirate Roberts."

Bo blinked in incredulity. "Seriously?"

"Not the least," Lauren smiled.

"He said he was proud of me," Bo confided shyly, her own pride so simple and joyful that Lauren wanted to cry at the sweetness of it.

"As well he should be," she pronounced firmly. She didn't want to spoil the mood by talking about Bo's succubus. Bo had spent the night wrestling demons; she deserved some respite.

Too elated to think about food, Bo called Kenzi to tell her the news while Lauren ate her lunch with unimpaired appetite.

"Invite her over," she urged before Bo hung up. "It's a family sort of day."

So it wasn't until after dinner that Lauren approached Trick and asked about the succubus.

"It didn't tell me anything about who her father might be," Trick said worriedly, "I've never heard of such a thing. It sounds powerful…. and dark, with a small 'd'."

"If it were malignant it would have killed me too," Lauren pointed out.

"What if Bo's succubus is a dark side to her personality?" Trick postulated uneasily.

"Let's not go there yet, Yoda. Is the succubus a separate being? Was her mother like that? Or other succubi you've known?"

Trick shook his head. "No, succubi normally have a single psyche like everyone else. The fae part of any fae is not separate physically or mentally from the human part. It's all one being, body and soul."

Lauren narrowed her eyes. "Why can't Bo access the physical capabilities for distance feeding from multiple sources in her normal state? The musculature must be there and functional."

Trick said, "She hasn't had her Dawning. Although if these powers are manifesting now …"

"But she's not supposed to have that for ages!" Lauren was alarmed. "How old were you when you had yours?"

"In my hundreds," Trick said vaguely.

"Did your fae powers manifest independently of your control before that?"

Trick said, "I was a little out of control in the lead up, yes, but I was still myself. I was conscious of what I was doing all the time. I just couldn't stop certain impulses and I didn't know why I had them. That's normal."

Lauren said," So there's a possibility that Bo's Dawning might be approaching? Even though it's so early?"

Trick replied, "Yes, but it doesn't explain her unconsciousness through the manifestation of her succubus."

"Should she start prepping for the Dawning?"

"I'll call for a Lodestar to come. She'll know more about the Dawning. "

"Does Bo know about it? Have you explained it to her?"

Trick shook his head. "I wasn't keeping it a secret. All the fae know about it. It just never came to my mind that of course she wouldn't because she was brought up human."

"Look, Trick, you're the best one to tell her. She'll have to meet the Lodestar. She should know why. So you should do it soon."

Trick nodded. "I'll do it first thing in the morning."

Chapter 20

"So the Dawning can be prepared for," Bo said, with pardonable bitterness at this new challenge, "whenever the hell it happens. What I want to know is whether after the Dawning this alternate personality goes away or takes over or remains as something I have to struggle with the rest of my life."

"It was definitely not an underfae manifestation," Lauren said. "Have you ever come across an underfae with a real personality other than a chip on its shoulder? The alter ego had a real personality and a very strong one. It had intelligent purpose beyond mere survival."

"Then it's not what I'll become if I fail the Dawning. Is it what I become if I pass? Because that's not a comfort."

Trick said, "No, fae who pass the Dawning may have more confidence and know more about themselves but they don't undergo a complete personality change. They don't become someone else. What Lauren described is pure powerful succubus with abilities I've never heard of. It's probably a repressed part of your existing personality which should stabilize after the Dawning. "

Lauren put a hand on a depressed looking Bo's shoulder. "You still think and feel like a human, Bo. Most other fae have a different mindset. You may not have actively repressed the fae part of your mind but probably it's had no outlet to express itself and be recognized."

"I don't want to come out of the Dawning thinking like a typical fae," Bo said to Trick. "I'm just fine as I am."

"You shouldn't have to worry about that, Bo. As I said, the Dawning is not a personality rewrite. But you will get to know the succubus part of yourself better. The fact that you will be dealing with it straightforwardly means you'd be acknowledging it, validating its existence. That is what will calm it down. You should come out of the Dawning living with it as part of your whole being, not fighting it."

"But I can't control it. I just disappeared. I can't control when it appears and I can't control what I do when it does. What if it doesn't limit itself to self-defence next time?"

"There's no point worrying about what ifs, though," Lauren said. "The thing you have to hold on to is that whatever it does won't be your fault. There's no blame without conscious will. To be honest, I'm kind of glad it did appear. It's the reason we're both alive now. Let's concentrate on you getting through the Dawning as soon as possible so there's less of an opportunity for it to re-appear while so …. untamed."

Bo gave her a small smile. "Trick, what does the Lodestar say about the distance feeding from multiple sources?"

Trick shook his head. "Like I said, those are abilities I've never seen before. Neither has she."

"It's an immense tactical advantage," Lauren said thoughtfully. "Is it likely that Bo will be able to do it voluntarily after the Dawning?"

Trick considered this. "I'll discuss it with the Lodestar but you know, that's a plausible hypothesis. It might be something Bo could address directly during the Dawning."

"How?" Bo asked eagerly.

"Dawning experiences are unique to everyone so I can't tell you what yours will be. But if distance feeding is on your mind as being important, it might well come up in some way." He paused. "There's something else to deal with. Bo, you have to resolve anything that's troubling you before you can even enter the Dawning."

Bo looked at him in incomprehension.

"Well, do you owe any debts to anyone, monetary ones or debts of honour?"

Bo shook her head. "Not like that. I mean, I owe Lauren a lot, for example, but not in that way. It's kind of like I owe you for all the information you've given me when you didn't have to. That's not the sort of debt that is repaid by any kind of payment by a specific date. It's the kind of debt that makes me respect you both, and want to help you whenever I can."

Trick nodded. "OK. Any issues left over from your dealings with anyone?"

"You mean, like wanting to slap the Morrigan and the Ash all the time?"

They all smiled. Trick said, "No, not irritations. I mean unresolved anger and hurt and guilt."

Bo considered. "Well, you remember I ran away home. That's one thing. And then Dyson and Hale told Kyle's family that I'm under witness protection because I might have seen his killer. All my other kills were very bad guys. Dyson looked into that. As far as I know, the human police were so glad they were dead that they haven't been looking into their deaths except as a matter of form. But I still feel horrible about Kyle. He was a good person."

Trick nodded soberly. "Then you must address these matters now, Bo, however hard it may be for you. The Morrigan and the Ash are going to have step up and do their bit in marshalling the forces against the Garuda while you do this. I'm going to tell them."

He rose and left.

Chapter 21

Bo looked at Lauren. "I don't know what to do about Kyle."

Lauren looked blank for a moment and Bo prompted. "He was my high school sweetheart, my first kill, the reason I left home and started running. I told you about that but I might not have mentioned his name to you before."

Lauren nodded. "Bo, I'm not sure what more you _can_ do. You may have killed him but it was not with intent, which is what murder requires. And it wasn't your fault you were living in ignorance of your fae nature and not trained to feel without killing, or didn't know to limit yourself to fae, which you didn't even know existed. None of that is your fault. You can legitimately feel regret but I don't see how either remorse or guilt is called for."

Bo looked at her, wanting to be convinced but, having felt guilty for so long, uncertain how to let it go.

Lauren tried again. "Bo, feeling guilt in the wrong circumstances isn't a sign of goodness. It's a sign of incorrect analysis to arrogate blame to yourself that properly lies elsewhere. You were never a malevolent personality. You never wanted to kill anyone. You just couldn't help it. Starvation works that way, just like no one can commit suicide just by holding their breath. The survival reflex is not voluntary. The strongest will in the world won't stop someone from taking a breath once the need for oxygen becomes critical. You were not responsible, not for Kyle's death, not for any of the others before you found the fae. The fact that you consciously chose the worst of the people you came across to be your victims says more about your character than your unconscious survival reflex does." She stared at Bo with absolute conviction.

Bo breathed carefully as she thought about this. Lauren waited, watching to see the effect of her logic. At length Bo's shoulders relaxed. Lauren tilted her head a little to catch Bo's eye. She got a small smile. "It's sinking in. I've just been so used to the guilt for so long, you know. It'll take a while for me to lighten up. I can't give Kyle's family closure."

"Closure is an imprecise term," Lauren grumbled and Bo's smile bloomed without her being able to help it. "What they needed was a sense of finality and a sense that his death was not insignificant. They have that. What they do not have is revenge but that is not what the human system of justice in Canada is predicated on anyway. What Dyson told them may have been a lie and ordinarily that would not sit well with me. But in this case, it provides comfort when the perpetrator was not to blame and the incident cannot be explained to the human world. You may have been the proximate cause of Kyle's death, but the moral responsibility lies with whoever left you untended and uninformed in the human world."

Bo leaned her head against the wall. "I wish we had talked like this before. The reasoning everyone else gives, that me getting away with it keeps the fae hidden, was always …. unsatisfactory. I never felt it was sufficient. That was why I never stopped feeling guilty."

"Dyson and Hale know perfectly well that murder requires intent," Lauren said. "They ought to have helped you with this."

Bo sighed. "That only really applies to Kyle, though. For the rest, I knew beforehand that I would kill them, hence my choosing the nastiest people I could find."

"Knowledge and intent are different things. If you had had the choice to just give them a severe beating and not kill them and still survive yourself, you would not have chosen to kill. Since you found the fae, you haven't killed except in self-defence or defence of other innocents, have you? When you've had no other choice?" Lauren pointed out.

Bo took a breath of finality. "You're right. Now I'm more glad than ever that I didn't kill Vex. The vigilante thinking I had while on the run must have re-surfaced with him. I was thinking like that for 10 years. See asshole, kill asshole."

Lauren half-smiled. "You know Bo, for most fae, the way to resolve this would have been to accept that they should not feel regret at all because the victims were human. This is why you are so deserving."

Something inside Bo wriggled a little with pleasure. She couldn't help casting a grateful, happier glance at Lauren. "I've no doubt I'll have to think about this some more, but my heart is already convinced and is the lighter for it. Thank you, Lauren, really. You can't know the difference it makes."

"I can and I do," Lauren said so sombrely that Bo looked a question at her. "I'll tell you about it when we have time, maybe tonight. No, wait, you have to go back to the Dennis house, don't you?"

Bo groaned. "Yes, It'll take a couple of days just to drive there and back, not counting the time it'll take to 'resolve' this, whatever form that may take."

"Okay, I'll tell you about it when you get back then. Now I have to check on the work with Lachlan's venom, get a new batch…" Lauren trailed off.

Bo sighed. "I guess that means you can't come with me."

Lauren blinked. "Did you want me to?"

Bo chuckled. "I love Kenzi to death, but on a road trip? I'll have to sedate her. I'd choose you any day. Well, you'll just have to experience the cherry festival with me next year. Or can you really come now, in fact?"

Lauren went over her to-do list in her mind, heaved a sigh and shook her head. "Not if it's going to take two days or more. The venom work can't wait and there's a limit to how much I can do over the phone."

Bo smiled resignedly and pushed off the wall. "Come on then, I'll walk you to the labs and then I'll find Kenzi and we'll get packing. I'll stop in and see you before we go."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 22

A few days later, Bo stumbled into Lauren's lab, supported by Kenzi. The doctor looked up, alarmed, and quickly came to them.

"Here, sit on this bed." She pulled open a curtain and Bo perched her behind against it.

"I'm not injured, only tired." Bo told her. "I just passed my Dawning."

Lauren crossed her arms, holding up an admonitory finger and Bo obediently fell silent.

"I do want to hear all about it, but first I need to know if there's any medical reason why you're both here." She looked at both of them narrowly.

She got two headshakes and let out a breath of relief. "OK …" she reached into a small fridge and took out a sports drink, which she displayed. "Will this help with the tiredness?"

"Oh god, yes, please!"

The bottle was tossed and caught and Bo drank half of it without taking a breath.

"We actually came to ask if you can come out to lunch with us so Bo can tell us both about the Dawning," Kenzi put in. "If not, we can tell you over dinner."

Lauren smiled at last. "If you had rung me, I could have come to meet you and saved you the effort of coming all the way here."

Bo shook her head. "I just wanted to see you in your natural habitat. I thought it would be soothing and after the experience I've had, I needed soothing."

"You're on safari?" Lauren snorted indignantly and Kenzi cracked a laugh.

Bo smiled her most charming smile. "Come on, you've got to be slightly pleased that you're the first person I wanted to see after that."

"Because I wasn't there," Lauren pointed out. "I suppose everyone else was." She arched an imperative eyebrow.

"No, honestly, Lauren, it wasn't an invitational!" Bo said, indignant in her turn. "If I had known it was _going_ to happen when it did, I would've asked you. Kenzi and I drove in from Grimley late last night and went to bed. Apparently I sleepwalked to the Dal because the next thing I remember, I was standing in front of the arch and Trick was offering me weapons and Dyson was offering himself as my Hand!"

"Your Hand? This isn't Game of Thrones!"

"No, I didn't know what it meant, except that he could accompany me into the Dawning and help out. So I said yes, because I didn't know it was anything out of the ordinary."

Lauren rolled her eyes. "I suppose it was," she said.

"Yes! I could have slapped him when I found out the truth," Bo said acidly. "Anyway, Trick more or less pushed us into the arch. I don't even know how Kenzi got there but she wasn't there when I went in."

"I woke up this morning and Bo wasn't there and hadn't left a note," Kenzi explained. "I phoned Dyson first because I wanted a lift. He didn't pick up and so I called Hale, who didn't know anything. I was about to call you, but then I figured maybe if the Dawning was going on I should call the Dal. Trick picked up, told me it was on and I took a cab there, thinking you would be there too, but you weren't. So then I took out my phone to call you, but Bo fell out of the Arch with Dyson and … and here we are," she finished lamely, casting her eyes at Bo. "Trick didn't bother calling either of us so be pissed at him, by all means. I am."

Lauren shook her head. "Let's just go eat. I'm not really angry." But her voice was subdued.

Bo took her arm. "I'm going to speak to Trick about that. It was wrong of him not to tell you or Kenzi. I wanted you both there. I really did."

Lauren said, "I'm honestly not angry with you, Bo."

"But?" Bo prompted. "Because obviously there's more."

"Trick knows you live with Kenzi and think of her as family, but he didn't call her. You're going to live the rest of your life among the fae, Bo. They will always think of humans as merely incidental appendages. We're not truly real or meaningful to them and they won't take account of us, however close you may feel to us." Lauren fell silent for a moment as they walked, conscious that Bo's gaze never left her. Neither did Kenzi's.

"When I was doing my internships, I came across a few cases where common law partners of patients were left out in the cold by the hospitals and the patients' employers because there was no official recognition of the relationship. So things like who got informed about the patient's condition, decisions as to their care, benefits, all were unjustly handled and usually the effect was downright cruel on those couples after years, even decades, of devotion to each other. This is exactly what's happened with Kenzi, though she's more of a sister than a spouse. It's still a de facto family connection that people with the power to alleviate a distressing situation refuse to recognize. It's worse in this case because there is no legal blowback. Trick couldn't have been sued for calling Kenzi. You've even formally claimed her so there's a relationship between you that fae recognize. That still wasn't good enough. I won't be angry with Trick without hearing his side of it but this just brings up bad memories of petty cruelties. I'm not so much frustrated for my own sake, Bo. Kenzi is a very different matter."

Bo's lips were compressed in anger now. Kenzi looked like she was quietly simmering. There was a long silence.

Finally Bo stopped them all. She said quietly, "I will hear Trick out on this, but if his answer isn't satisfactory, I am prepared to disown him as my family unless he does something meaningful to show he changes his attitude to you, both of you."

She saw two sets of eyes widen.

Kenzi said worriedly, "You've been looking for your blood family for so long. I know I'm important to you, Bo. You don't have to prove it, not like that, not by sacrificing a relationship with blood kin you've wanted all your life."

Bo put her hand on Kenzi's shoulder but she was speaking just as much to Lauren as she said, "No, Kenzi. I looked for them because I wanted to know them, of course. But for me, family is MORE by choice than by blood. If Trick is really a bastard about humans, then it's not a sacrifice to me. I've lived without the knowledge of him being related to me nearly all my life. He never wanted to tell me anyway, not until it became unavoidable. You and I have been living together for two years now. We rely on each other. We rely on Lauren, and sooner or later, she will learn to rely on us." She gave a half-smile as she raised an ironic eyebrow at the doctor.

"You rely on Trick, too."

"For information, Kenzi, and drinks, that's all. That's not what being family is about. Family sticks together no matter what. That's what you and I do for each other. That's what Lauren has always done for us, even when she could ill afford to do so. That's what we'll always do for her now. Right?"

Kenzi didn't hesitate to nod in agreement. Lauren managed somehow to look simultaneously pleased and worried.

"Bo, are you certain about this? It's a big step to take, given that Trick has only just acknowledged your relationship with him."

"All the more reason it would be less of a loss to me," Bo said tightly. "I am sure, Lauren. If I don't have to choose, I won't. But if he forces the choice on me, I shall. Leave it with me and let it rest for now. Because if you don't want to slap Trick now, you'll want to slap him _and_ Dyson when I've told you about the Dawning."

"Oh,boy," Lauren breathed.

Chapter 23

"Trick, I need to speak with you in private, please," Bo said, her mouth set and jaw hard.

Downstairs in his study she tried not sound too belligerent.

"Trick, why didn't you call Kenzi and Lauren this morning for my Dawning?"

Trick looked down. "No Dawning has ever been attended by anyone other than fae, Bo." He held up hand to still her reaction. "No, let me finish. It isn't anything to do with not recognizing their importance to you. What I was worried about was whether their presence might somehow have affected your Dawning in a way that might have been harmful to you or anyone else present. The arch is not under my control, nor is the Dawning. None of us knows everything that will or will not affect a Dawning. I didn't want to take a chance and I will bet you anything you like that if they heard this, they would both agree with me. Better to have temporarily hurt feelings than you dead or devolved. I can't apologise for that and I won't. What if the Dawning caused them to be harmed because they were present?"

There was silence as Bo thought about this. "Will you explain this to them personally?"

Trick nodded. "Of course. You may think I'm old and a stick-in-the-mud but I've known Lauren far longer than you have, and I've known you and Kenzi together were a family for the last two years. I don't, contrary to what you may think, value them less because they are human."

Bo said tensely, "Lauren is family too."

Trick nodded silently.

'Trick…" Bo began warningly.

"I do understand that both of them are very important to you, Bo."

"I … I love them both, Trick. Differently but just as much."

Trick smiled. "That much is obvious. Bo, I swear to you that it was fear for your sake and theirs that kept me from calling them here. I may worry about what you will go through when they … pass on," he hurried on as Bo winced, "but while they are around I will treat them as your next-of-kin if that is what you want."

Bo hesitated. "I haven't made any status concrete with Lauren yet, but unofficially, yes, I'd like that."

"Then that's how it'll be. Do you truly understand about the Dawning?"

Bo nodded slowly. "Yeah…. mind you, I'm not sure what the Dawning was meant to tell me. And I think it was confusing in part because Dyson was there. I wish you hadn't been so eager for him to go with me. I mean, it was _my_ Dawning. If I had known what it meant for him to go, I'd have refused."

"I'm sorry, Bo. You are my granddaughter. I was afraid for you and I just jumped on anything that would improve your chances with the Dawning. I still don't understand what he did in there, how he interfered."

"Doesn't matter," Bo said shortly. "I'll talk to him about it. Are you always going to be thrusting him at me?"

Trick blanched. "I wasn't! Not in the way you mean. It was his choice to volunteer. I didn't encourage him. But once he made the decision to offer, I was glad for your sake if it meant you would be surer to get through."

Bo said tightly. "I'm trying to convince Lauren to take a chance with me as it is. I don't want anyone making my chances with her worse than they are." She looked at him pointedly.

He raised his hands as if warding her off. "I'm not inclined to, not even a little. In case you have forgotten, I say again that I'd known and liked Lauren for years before you ever appeared on the scene. She's had a hard enough life as it is and I'd never knowingly make it worse."

Bo said, "I really need to know how you feel about us being together, Trick. I am prepared to accept that I will feel the loss if she dies first, but that's not even a certainty given the life I lead."

"Bo, it's not as if all fae enter into lifelong partnerships for hundreds or thousands of years. Most relationships between fae don't last longer than a human partnership would because they change, grow apart, move on. In fact many fae relationships are as short-lived as human ones because all sorts of things can go wrong, just as they do between humans. The aim of the rule against fae-human relationships was to preserve the secrecy of the fae and to avoid genetic complications, not to avoid heartbreak to the fae when the human dies. That last is just a valid consideration. What are you going to do about the rule anyway? You can't stay around to guard Lauren all the time. You both have to work. It's not much of a life to offer Lauren if you both have to defend yourselves all the time."

Bo frowned. "Why does the letter of the rule apply to us when it doesn't in spirit? I mean, Lauren already knows about the fae. In fact she knows more about the fae than most fae. And you must have noticed we're lacking something vital to producing ANY children, let alone children that would have genetic problems."

Trick thought. "True. In that case you can petition the Ash and the Morrigan to make an exception to the rule. Lauren is already an exception the rule that humans must be claimed. If you do it now, while you both still have leverage because of the Garuda, you'll be surer of a positive response."

Bo still looked a bit puzzled so Trick explained. "Petition for her alone to be exempt from the rule for life and. by extension, whoever her partner may be from time to time. It doesn't matter whether she's in an acknowledged relationship now. Once she is exempt, you're home free."

The contemplative silence that followed was amicable.

Bo asked softly, "What can you tell about her life before I arrived, Trick?"

Trick shook his head. "Nothing specific. I was just always a little worried for her state of mind because I thought she was alone all that time."

"You thought she was a suicide risk?" Bo's eyes were wide with alarm.

"It wasn't anything specific to her. I mean she didn't carry herself as if she were. It was just the circumstances, losing her family and friends, the professional life she knew, a society of equals, the recognition and status someone with her abilities might have accrued and enjoyed, the chance to have a family of her own, children …she'd lost all that, Bo. It would be a huge and terrible loss for anyone. And losing all that, she came into circumstances where she was lower in status than anyone around, having to fight constantly to maintain her self-esteem. When you came among us you gained a society, even though you don't like a lot of the elements of it. Lauren really suffered nothing but loss."

"She finds the fae fascinating, scientifically," Bo said weakly.

"You know it's because she had to make the best of a bad lot." Trick sighed. "It was a consolation, Bo. Look, take a quiet moment tonight on your own and imagine everything she might have had if she hadn't come among us. Then you might have a more visceral idea of the way that might have hit her. If you care for her, take the time to do that and really put yourself in her shoes."

Bo said quietly, "I'm afraid that she'll want to go back to the human world and leave us all behind. It's a horrible thing to admit that I'm selfish enough not to want that when I should want her to be happy."

Trick said nothing, but he squeezed her shoulder on his way upstairs to the bar.

Chapter 24

"There you go, Robert. How's the hubby?" Lauren taped a cotton ball to the Light fae volunteer's injection site.

"Paul's well enough. He's worried. He wanted to fight by my side, but the paramedics need him. He knows how important his job is."

"I'm sorry. It must be hard for you both."

"No more than it is for you and Bo, _non_?"

Lauren went pink.

"It's OK, Doc, really. We are on your side." Robert rested his behind on the nearest bed and lowered his voice. "Do you mind my asking how you're going to deal with her needing to feed?"

"We'll figure it out," Lauren said softly. "It's just not something we'll have time for until after the Garuda's dealt with. Now that Bo's had her Dawning, it might not be such a …. challenge."

Robert lowered his voice even more. "Well, Paul and I discussed this. It is why I am here. We're willing to help out. Just … you know… _entre nous._ "

Lauren stared at him. "What … what do you mean?"

"Lauren, you know very well we are gay, yes? We can feed Bo if she uses her powers on us, but there will be no personal issues afterwards, no triangles, no pestering lovelorn suitors. Now I have volunteered, I will be around. Bo can feed from me in safety and you will not have to worry. You are both doing everything for the fae, and you have been our doctor for years now. Let us help until you figure out a better solution. You don't have to take us up on it, but the offer's there. Make of it what you wish."

Lauren's hand came to her mouth. "Oh Robert, …."

"It's OK," he murmured. "Really. Whatever you decide."

They exchanged warm smiles.

"Lauren, Lauren!" Bo came barrelling in, interrupting their moment. "The Garuda's got Trick!"

"Dear god!" Lauren hastened to her work table, Robert following close behind. "Here, the venom's on this crossbow bolt. And here's the crossbow. Remember you can also just hold the bolt in your hand and stab with it."

"Oh, thank god. Thank you, Lauren."

"Bo, I know you want to rush off to save Trick but you need to wait just a couple of minutes. Robert here is joining your team. I've just injected him with the serum with your diluted blood. We're both coming with you and I need a minute to get a medkit together and the injections for the others."

"Lauren, you can't be serious about coming!"

"I have to administer the shots and Trick might need immediate medical attention," Lauren said firmly. "I won't entrust him to anyone else. Robert will stick by my side like a tick if you ask him to. His husband's a paramedic and wants to help. If you can wait long enough, we can call him to join us and I'll inject him too. He can help with any other injured or fight if that's what's needed."

"How long?"

"He can be here in fifteen minutes," Robert said with controlled excitement. "I guarantee he'll want to come."

"We're mustering at the Dal," Bo said quickly. "Have him meet us there."

She waited as Robert made his call and Lauren gathered her kit and they left the lab together.

Chapter 25

The blunt corner of Lauren's solid medkit cracked down on the sword-wielding fist in front of her. The sword in that hand, previously sweeping to cut her in half at the waist, dropped to the ground. A howl of pain emanated from the pinched face across from hers that had been so confident a second ago. In a breath, Dyson was on top of her erstwhile opponent and Lauren swung round to see Robert behind her grappling hand to hand with a large ogre. She took two long steps to get behind the ogre. The third step was on to his calf with all of her weight. Naturally he crashed painfully onto that knee and Robert ruthlessly kicked him in the throat so hard that Lauren knew his airway must be crushed and he would be dead soon.

Without a word spoken, she and Robert took up position back to back.

He grunted and Lauren turned to see he had his arms full with an underfae. She took a second to identify it and then circled round and thrust the corner of her trusty medkit up into its armpit as hard as she could. It screamed and let go of Robert who, thus freed, grabbed an ear and the opposite shoulder and snapped its neck with a simple twist and brute force.

The melee went on for long minutes before the room was cleared. She gave a thumb's up to the searching look Bo sent her way and Bo led her small force onwards.

As time went on, Bo's force was diminished by attrition to a bare handful around her by the time she came upon Trick and the Garuda.

Lauren had stayed behind with Robert and Paul, not without initial resistance from Bo, to give first responder care to the wounded. She and Paul worked like demons while Robert stood guard. In the last hall, once they were satisfied that Paul could on his own provide sufficient on-scene care for the casualties who remained alive, he sent her and Robert on with a shooing motion.

They caught up with Bo just in time to hear her cry of dismay as the Garuda changed into firebird form and disappeared into Trick.

Lauren would never forget the look of despairing regret on Bo's face as she drove the crossbow bolt into her own grandfather's stomach. The firebird reappeared out of Trick and then disintegrated into fine inert dust. Lauren hurried up and started working on Trick as Bo fell on her knees beside him, hand to her mouth, silent tears falling freely.

When Bo rose to her feet, the movement made Lauren glance up by reflex. She saw the blue sheen in her eyes, blue tendrils floating into her mouth and shouted, "Kenzi, the unbinding, now, hurry!", even as she cleaned and pressed, pushed an injection and set up a field IV for Robert to hold up.

Chapter 26

Two hours later, everyone who was still ambulatory was semi-collapsed in the Dal. They were all too tired for a proper celebration.

At least Trick was stable in his ward and really only needed rest.

Dyson, in temporary charge of the bar in Trick's absence, doled out whiskey and tequila, ale and beer with a generous hand which made Lauren smile as she imagined what the Blood King might have to say about the inroads into his stock.

Finally, Dyson came and slumped on the seat next to her.

"Bo still with Trick?"

"Mmhmm. When she had to stab him, she believed it would kill him. She needs the reassurance of his living presence. Besides while all the chi she breathed into him helped him turn the corner, they're both tired. She'll need to feed soon."

"Do I want to know what you gave him in that injection? I've never known Naga venom not to be lethal."

"A high concentration of the denatured version." She ignored his stare. "It worked like salt on a wine stain. The fresh venom osmoted to it and was denatured in turn. Hence the emesis in the end."

"Which you just had to collect …" he said sardonically.

"Just to analyse and doublecheck. It's neat that the theory worked."

Another stare.

"What? It's not like I had test subjects before, or a plentiful supply of fresh venom to use up on testing." Lachlan had been a victim of the Garuda a few days earlier. "No one, including Trick, had anything to lose."

Dyson said nothing.

She turned to look at him. He shook his head. "I'm all right. Just tired. That was a long long time just fighting. Speaking of which …" he gave her a faint lop-sided grin, "you were pretty handy. Not the Defence Forces, surely?"

"Mmm … among other things … not the lessons I wanted to dust off."

"Needs must …" Dyson responded in an exhausted voice. He tilted his head back to rest it on top of the seat back. "You did well."

"I just did my job," Lauren deflected.

Dyson's head came up again.

"Lauren, I train every day at the gym and with my heavy bag. I've done this for decades. Before that I trained every day in drill yards."

Lauren stared at him, not seeing where this was going.

"So the footwork, the punches and kicks and combinations are what I do every day. They are what's ordinary to me. When I meet an enemy who wants me dead, I do exactly those same things, just in extraordinary circumstances. That's what you did today too, what was ordinary for you, just in extraordinary circumstances."

Lauren continued to stare. Dyson waited.

"i should have known," Lauren said at last, "that you would like _Gates of Fire_."

Dyson cracked up. "Not high enough literature for the PhD?" he wheezed at last.

Lauren said, "Let's save the literary critique for another time. After a lot of tequila. Are you sure you're all right? Haven't got a head injury you're hiding?"

Dyson tilted his head back again and closed his eyes. "Nope."

"Sentimental so-and-so," Lauren muttered.

He chuckled and sat up, clapped a heavy hand on her shoulder and leaned his weight on it to stand up. "Get some rest, Lauren, we've all earned it. I'm gonna depute Kenzi to organize a proper celebration. What d'you reckon?"

"Good choice," Lauren murmured and yawned behind her hand. "I'm off to bed. Are you locking up?"

"Yeah. I'm sleeping in here tonight so if you sleep walk, don't bloody trip over me."

Lauren smiled to herself at the mental image of a wolfskin rug. "Good night."

Chapter 27

A year later ….

Bo came into the house with a quick sniff for Lauren's scent. It was an hour or so before dinnertime and the doctor was often out running at this time of day.

But not today. Delighted, Bo hared up the stairs to their bedroom. The moment she charged in the door, two arms came round her from behind.

"Ah, ah!" Lauren's pleased voice sounded behind her. "Don't turn round. Welcome home, Bo."

Bo squirmed with happiness and turned her head to be kissed. "Hi Lauren!"

Everything had pretty much turned up roses after the final battle with the Garuda. Having had a taste of cooperating to bolster the strength of Bo's forces against the Garuda, the Ash and the Morrigan had taken the now relatively small step of jointly offering Lauren a permanent medical consultancy open to both Light and Dark, financed by both. Trick had done was what required to turn the new medical facility into a sanctuary like the Dal and a house was built for Lauren on the grounds. Bo came with her. The house had a granny flat, which Kenzi moved into with glee. The Light and Dark had both furnished Guardians of the Sanctuary, who were essentially trained security personnel.

Bo had worked hard on to develop her distance feeding skills so feeding sexually was now a thing of the past. Driven by her desire to avoid having to heal, which took up precious non-work time which might otherwise be spent with Lauren and Kenzi or her other friends, she had consulted with everyone as to how to achieve this.

In the end, Dyson and Robert formally trained her, to various degrees of proficiency, in kickboxing and savate, arnis and fencing and the longsword. She still took lessons from them twice a week. Lauren had surprised everyone but Dyson and Robert by already having more than a passing familiarity with arnis, and she and Kenzi joined in those sessions, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed.

Secretly, although she would never express disrespect to either of her trainers, Bo loved learning from Lauren in their occasional private one-on-one sessions because the doctor's approach was based on the necessary assumption that she would almost always be facing a stronger opponent. Learning how she used an intuitive appreciation of biomechanics and strategy was a fascinating mental exercise and Bo could see why Lauren might have taken to it like a duck to water.

Bo had also diligently earned her license to carry a firearm without cutting corners using her powers.

In the result, she hardly ever needed to resort to Robert and Paul to heal from critical injuries now and they were frequent visitors and friends.

Lauren and Bo both worked regular hours now, neither willing to be absent from their dinner table. Kenzi perforce also kept more regular hours and because they only went to the Dal a couple of times a week these days, overall she was drinking a lot less. Bo seldom felt the need for it now and Lauren was as moderate as always. Usually they watched TV or a movie contentedly and Paul had an ongoing video game rivalry with Kenzi.

On alternate Friday evenings, Trick, Dyson, Hale and other friends they had accrued had a standing invitation to come for barbeque-and-good bad movie nights. The good bad movies were entirely Hale's fault to begin with but after _The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai_ , _Galaxy Quest_ and _Hell Toupee_ had been greeted with acclaim, finding the next good bad movie became an ongoing challenge for everyone.

Lauren now said into Bo's ear. "I had a wonderful time last night. You did so well with planning our anniversary dinner."

Bo sighed even more happily. "I had a great time too. We need to slow dance more often."

"Ah … well now," Lauren said, and the fine hairs on Bo's neck prickled with anticipation. Lauren loved the eroticism of the suggestive rather than the explicit, and her mastery of it drove Bo regularly into the best kind of frenzy.

"… that may very well be … but since you went to so much trouble for last night, I've decided unilaterally that you deserve to be rewarded …"

Bo's breath caught. "Yeah?" She began to pant lightly.

"Mmhmm. Robert and Paul invited Kenzi over for dinner so we have all of tonight to ourselves." Lauren nosed gently up and down at the very edge of Bo's ear and Bo went weak. "So now, I want you forget everything and just close your eyes for a moment."

Bo eagerly did as she was told.

"Now, imagine you've been away for work so we haven't seen each other for days …" Lauren's evocative murmur wove a little bubble of magic. "We're almost desperate for together-time. You've picked me up for a date at a fae club. We start a lovely… slow …. dance …"

Bo smiled dreamily as Lauren began to sway gently with her. "But you are gorgeous as you always are and everyone wants you. People are coming up, wanting your attention."

Bo frowned and gave tiny growl of irritation.

"Mmhmm … It's too much trouble to turn them away one by one. You need to find a way to warn them all off. So you have an idea."

Lauren breathed very softly. "You … are going … to mark … your … territory."

Bo's knees gave out. "Oh … my .. god," she said faintly. She just had to be luckiest, happiest being alive.

Still supporting her firmly, Lauren guided her safely to bed.

 _FIN_


End file.
